Luxury Escapes and Tourism Australia launch second campaign this year
Luxury Escapes has launched its second content and digital campaign in partnership with Tourism Australia’ ‘Holiday Here This Year’.
The announcement:
Off the back of the successful ‘Holiday Here This Year’ campaign partnership between online travel company Luxury Escapes and Tourism Australia, a second campaign will launch from Monday 14th September to Sunday 4th October.
‘Holiday Here This Year’ showed that Australians who previously travelled overseas are now booking domestic trips for their next getaway, with a strong sentiment to support regional destinations including those affected by the devastating bushfires in January.
The campaign is the largest Luxury Escapes have ever undertaken in terms of volume, content and performance. The second round will continue to encourage and inspire Australians to holiday locally with an additional 35 high-end properties on offer, through a multi-channel, destination-focused approach. Six more detailed travel guides have also been created to add to the 17 that were already developed for the previous campaign.
The success of this campaign aligns with the wider bounce back Luxury Escapes are seeing in intrastate and interstate travel for the majority of Australian states and territories. Product views for intrastate travel were up 180% and interstate product views up 100% in June compared to the 12 month average, with revenue also up for the regions that have eased restrictions.
The national campaign showcased travel opportunities across Australia to a national media audience as well as Luxury Escapes’ subscribers reaching more than 4.5 million Australians over the two week campaign period and generating thousands of bookings. 30% of the bookings made for this campaign were from Luxury Escapes customers who had previously booked an overseas trip with Luxury Escapes, demonstrating a swing from international to domestic travel.
Luxury Escapes CMO Jason Shugg said the success of the campaign demonstrates Australians are hungry and ready to travel again. “We’re seeing a very strong recovery in the states that have reopened for intrastate and interstate travel, and by joining forces with Tourism Australia we can help get travellers back to the communities that really need their support. With 42% of bookings in this campaign made for a regional destination, and bushfire-affected regions like the Blue Mountains being in the top three booking destinations, it’s clear there’s a real desire amongst Aussies to take a domestic holiday and support the local travel businesses than have had an incredibly challenging year so far.”
“Partnership campaigns are an integral element of our overall tourism marketing strategy and although much of our more visible brand activity has been on pause for the last few months, we have continued to work with key industry players like Luxury Escapes on strategic, conversion-focused partnership marketing initiatives to help drive bookings across Australia,” Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison said
“Our consumer research shows that 60% of Australian travellers are keen to travel or are considering travel around Australia once they can, and this demand has certainly been reflected in the results from this recent targeted campaign, which has exceeded our expectations.
“A key focus for us has been on boosting visitation to our regions, and in particular those areas that were directly impacted by the summer bushfires, which have continued to prove popular with Australian travellers.
“Although some travel restrictions remain in place around the country, we need to continue to encourage those who have the means to, to book a holiday or tourism experience, as the recovery of our industry hinges on Australians getting out and exploring their own wonderful country.”
The partner campaign was developed following the bushfire crisis over 2019-2020, but was delayed due to the coronavirus travel restrictions. Luxury Escapes are one of a number of local travel brands to partner with Tourism Australia for the year-long campaign, with a further partner campaign between the brands lined up later in 2020.
“The Australian travel industry has had a tough 2020, from the impact of the bushfires to the COVID-19 travel bans” Shugg says. “Whether they’re travelling now or as restrictions and borders open, it’s heartwarming to see so many Australians are eager to travel again, particularly through supporting the regional areas and operators that are doing it tough.”
Source: Luxury Escapes media release
