Tourism Australia launches domestic ‘Holiday Here This Year’ campaign to support the ‘true heroes’ of the tourism industry
Following on from the $76m government grant announced earlier this week, Tourism Australia has launched a domestic tourism campaign, ‘Holiday Here This Year’, in light of the bushfire crisis.
The campaign takes a grassroots approach across social media, content partnerships, radio, print and outdoor, which Tourism Australia CMO Susan Coghill told Mumbrella will connect Australians to the heroes of the tourism industry.
“Given the enormity of the challenge in front of us, we’ve deliberately taken a bottom up, grassroots approach with this campaign,” Coghill said.
“Holiday Here This Year is a simple but genuine rally cry which connects Australians to the true heroes of our industry, those thousands of tourism operators across the country who are doing it tough at the moment and desperately need our support.”
The campaign, via M&C Saatchi, will tap into the widespread goodwill shown by Australians in their efforts to aid and contribute funds to bushfire-affected areas and wildlife charities. The campaign will urge Australians to plan and book domestic holidays and share their experiences online.
It will also create a unified platform for the tourism industry to operate under and support the activity undertaken by each state’s tourism body.
The South Australian Tourism Commission has already activated a marketing push for the bushfire-affected Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island, emblazoned with the hashtag #BookThemOut.
Tourism Australia managing director, Phillipa Harrison, said the campaign was designed to show Australians the best way to help in the long-term recovery from the bushfires was to invest in domestic tourism.
“There is no doubt that Australian tourism has been hit hard by the recent bushfires. It’s critical that we help the industry get back on its feet as soon as possible,” Harrison said.
“The desire from ordinary Australians to assist the communities impacted both directly and indirectly by the bushfires has been overwhelming. This campaign seeks to show them how they can directly support the recovery by simply holidaying here in Australia.”
Harrison continued to say that the industry has taken a hit from people cancelling travel plans to areas that have not even been affected by the fires.
“We are currently in the middle of the peak summer period and we’re already seeing an impact on tourism as people delay or cancel their travel plans, including to areas that haven’t been directly affected,” Harrison added.
“That is why we are asking people to commit to holidaying in their own backyard this year – whether it’s a drive up the coast, taking a trip interstate, or ticking off a bucket list destination – and to spread the word that Australia is ready to welcome more travellers.
“Holiday Here This Year is a practical way that Australians can help bushfire affected communities by filling hotel rooms, restaurants, caravan parks, beaches and more.
“The launch of the campaign is the first of a package of measures that we’ll be rolling out over the coming weeks and months to help Australian tourism rebuild and recover,” she concluded.
Tourism Australia has launched an online platform to support the campaign, which will make it easier for Australians to find tourism operators and resources to plan and book holidays. Industry members will also be provided with tools to utilise in their own marketing initiatives.
The $76m government grant is broken down into the $20m directed to this domestic campaign, and $25m to redeploy Tourism Australia’s international marketing campaigns.
The $15m Kylie Minogue-fronted ‘Matesong’ campaign, which launched on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom ahead of the Queen’s annual address, was pulled after ten days in light of the bushfires and the need to communicate safety information to international tourists.
‘Matesong’ was the first instalment of Tourism Australia’s $38m ‘Philausophy’ campaign, which was also developed by M&C Saatchi.
So far it has not been confirmed whether ‘Matesong’ will be reactivated with the government grant.
If you’d like to assist with bushfire recovery, relief and rescue efforts, please explore the options below:
- New South Wales Rural Fire Service
- Victorian Country Fire Authority
- South Australian Country Fire Service
- Queensland Rural Fire Service
- Salvation Army Disaster Appeal
- St Vincent de Paul Society Bushfire Appeal
- Australian Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Relief
- WIRES (Wildlife Rescue) Emergency Fund
- Koalas in Care
- Western Australia Volunteer Fire and Rescue
I’ve heard Hawaii is nice this time of year.
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As an Australia tourism focused specialist magazine publisher, I hope some of this ad campaign money is spent with the smaller publishers who work hard to promote Australian regional travel and small town visits, and not just with the usual Agency favoured big business media channels with the usual kickbacks. We have lost over 50% of our ad revenue over the last few months with many small tourism operators pulling out due to the combination of bushfires and an already slow economy. We will continue doing what we do to promote Australian regional tourism, but it would be a welcome change to see a small slice of the pie they are saying they will use to to promote instead of the usual agency response of: sorry, no, that money has already been allocated.
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