Tourism Australia and BuzzFeed aim to boost young traveller numbers with road trip campaign
Tourism Australia and BuzzFeed are launching a campaign to send eight young European travellers on a three-month road trip around Australia to report on the country’s most breathtaking sites.
The competition, called the Buzzfeed Mateship program, is part of a wider initiative debuting in October aimed at attracting more young people to visit the country.
The winning entrants, who will come from the UK, Germany, Italy and France, will document festivals, surf breaks and food and wine offerings for both Tourism Australia and BuzzFeed’s social channels.
While the full itinerary is yet to be confirmed, the successful applicants will ride the world’s fastest Minjin jungle swing in Cairns and discover ancient watering holes in Kakadu National Park.
Tourism Australia’s CMO Lisa Ronson told Mumbrella: “This exciting new content partnership with BuzzFeed effectively forms the first salvo in our broader youth campaign, which we’ll be officially unveiling in the next few months.
“I’m afraid we can’t share details on that just yet, except to say it’s another big and fun idea the world has come to expect from Australia when it comes to targeting global youth travellers.”
Young tourists are a lucrative boon for the Australian economy – they represent only a quarter of all international arrivals but 44%of visitor spend.
However, working holiday visas, the primary method of allowing 18-30 year olds to be employed in the country, have seen a slight decline in applications in recent years.
In 2015-16, 159,409 first visas were granted with each costing $440. There is also the obvious knock-on effects to local economies.
The top five countries for applicants are the UK, Germany, France, South Korea and Taiwan, and the scheme recently extended its upper age limit to 35.
Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Steven Ciobo MP, said of the scheme: “The Turnbull Government recognises the importance of bringing more young people to Australia, both to travel and work, and that is why we have made improvements to the working holidaymaker programme and committed $10 million to Tourism Australia for this campaign.
“These eight lucky young travellers have a life-changing trip ahead of them and one which we believe will motivate many more young international travellers to follow in their footsteps.”
The campaign follows similar strategies launched in previous years, including one in 2013 and 2010 promising the ‘best job in the world’. Winners then could pick from being a lifestyle photographer in Melbourne for Time Out, an outback adventurer in the Northern Territory or a park ranger in Queensland.
Simon Crerar, editor-in-chief and general manager of BuzzFeed Australia, added: “We’re excited to give our audience around the world the opportunity to embed with the BuzzFeed team, learn new creative skills and see the best of what this country has to offer.”
