Tourism Australia kicks off week-long $5m domestic tourism blitz
Tourism Australia has kicked off a week-long tourism blitz, with a new instalment of its Hamish Blake-fronted Holiday Here This Year campaign.
Chief marketing officer, Susan Coghill, told Mumbrella the campaign seeks to aid tourism hot spots which need visitors the most.
“With this latest burst of ‘Holiday Here This Year’ campaign activity we’re really looking to keep Australia’s tourism experiences front of mind and tap into the strong consumer sentiment to travel domestically,” Coghill said.
“Even though there have been some disruptions to travel during the summer holiday period, which is typically the busiest time of year for so many tourism businesses, we know Australians are still keen to travel with more than half planning to take a domestic trip in the next six months.
“This week-long marketing push is aimed at inspiring Australians to take a well-deserved break by reminding them of all the incredible tourism experiences Australia has to offer across multiple media channels and in turn provide much needed support to tourism businesses across the country.”
The activity comes as some state borders finally re-open after a COVID-19 outbreak on Sydney’s Northern Beaches which spread to Melbourne, and a scare of the more contagious strain in Brisbane, caused various domestic borders to re-close. Last week Western Australia announced it would reopen its borders to travellers from Victoria and Queensland, however, a new case in Perth has since forced Perth and surrounding localities into a five day lockdown. Queensland announced a reopening to Greater Metropolitan Sydney last week from 1am AEST today, (1 February). Victoria and South Australia have also eased their border restrictions.
The border restriction put in place caused wide-spread disruption in the tourism industry which had been anticipating an uptick during the summer holiday period.
The latest forecasts from Tourism Australia show that the tourism industry is expected to make a loss of almost $55 billion this financial year, after a 38% fall in spending. However, consumer confidence amongst Australians is at an eight-month high and more than half of Australians are considering interstate travel.
“Summer is typically the busiest time for our tourism industry, with many operators relying on the revenue generated during this period to support them throughout the year. But as a result of the challenges that we’ve continued to face across the country, for many tourism businesses this holiday season unfortunately hasn’t gone to plan so far,” said Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison.
“Despite the recent disruptions, consumer confidence remains high with many Australians keen to take a break and get out and explore their own backyard. This campaign is all about capitalising on this pent-up demand by providing those people with all the content and inspiration they need to convert this desire and yearning for a holiday into actual bookings.
“We’re calling on people to make the most of the remaining weeks of summer and experience some of our incredible tourism offerings and in doing so, help give back to operators and communities across the country who need our support more than ever.”
The $5 million, week-long campaign features creative from M&C Saatchi and media strategy by UM.
‘Holiday Here This Year’ launched in January 2020 in response to the 2019/20 bushfire crisis. It was the first significant domestic marketing push since 2013, however it was promptly put on hold as COVID-19 spread throughout Australia and international and state borders were closed.
Marketing activity slowly began picking back up as conditions in Australia improved, and in October ‘Holiday Here This Year’ was relaunched, with a campaign starring Blake and Zoe Foster-Blake discussing family holidays over Zoom.
The latest push features Australian destinations, tourism experiences and products which will entice tourists to take a well-needed break. Activity will be seen across television, online, print and out-of-home, and will be backed by sponsorships, publisher created content and in-program editorial integration during television shows.
Tourism Australia is also calling upon the tourism industry to coordinate its own advertising push on their own channels, in line with the ‘Holiday Here This Year’ campaign.
Minister for trade, tourism and investment, Dan Tehan, said: “This nation-wide advertising blitz will inspire Australians to plan and book their next domestic getaway in the weeks and months ahead.
“Domestic tourism is worth $100 billion to the Australian economy and our tourism industry supports more than 621,000 local jobs.
“My message to every Australian is do yourself a favour and start planning your next holiday in Australia because you’ll have the time of your life and you’ll also be supporting a lot of Australian jobs and businesses.”
Tourism Australia’s media account is currently under review.
