Mat Rogers and Giaan Rooney pen postcards from the Gold Coast as Queensland opens up to interstate tourists
Former NRL great, Mat Rogers, and Olympic gold medalist, Giaan Rooney, have written personal postcards to residents of Sydney and Brisbane inviting them to holiday on the Gold Coast.
The initiative from Destination Gold Coast comes ahead of Queensland’s borders opening to Australians from all states and territories, except Victoria, from July 10.
Gold Coast tourism operators and local personalities have handwritten 3,000 bespoke postcards featuring the region’s tourism hotspots such as Warner Bros Movie World and Tallebudgera Creek.
The post cards will also be sent out to Melbournians to inspire them to visit the Gold Coast when they are next able to.
Destination Gold Coast CEO, Annaliese Battista, is ready to welcome interstate tourists back to the coast.
“This pandemic has changed us as a society, and what we truly value. It’s seen a renaissance of quality family time, which is exactly why Australians choose to holiday on the Gold Coast,” Battista said.
“We hope that, when families find these handwritten postcards in their mailboxes, they will reminisce about their past holiday experiences and childhood memories of the Gold Coast.
“By sharing heartfelt messages from our tourism operators, we wanted to give Aussies a taste of the incredible and unique experiences they can expect when they come back to play again.”
The Gold Coast’s tourism industry is worth $6bn a year. Last year it attracted 14.2m visitors.
Battista added that the new marketing initiative enabled tourism operators to share their excitement at seeing the industry recover.
“With the imminent opening of Queensland’s borders, we’re looking forward to welcoming families back to Australia’s favourite playground,” she said.
“Our operators have been working around the clock to meet COVID reopening guidelines to ensure our city is as safe as possible when holidaymakers return.”
In June, Destination Gold Coast kicked off a campaign to encourage tourism from Queensland residents as, at the time, borders were still set to open to interstate travellers in September.