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Tourism Whitsundays begins domestic tourism push targeting friends and family

Tourism Whitsundays has begun a domestic tourism campaign, targeting the friends and families of local residents, ahead of travel restrictions easing within the state of Queensland.

Queensland’s current travel restrictions allow day trips within 150km from a person’s residence. From 12 June, overnight travel and tourism will be allowed within a radius of 250km. The state’s borders will likely remain closed until September, which has become a hot-button issue in the lead up to the state election on 31 October.

The campaign will run for eight weeks on Facebook

The ‘Let’s Get Together’ campaign is a local photo competition for Whitsundays residents to submit images of their favourite spot in the area where they would like to bring their friends and family.

Tourism Whitsundays’ 855,000 followers on Facebook will be given the opportunity to choose their favourite image each week. The weekly winner will then be placed on a shortlist which will be judged by an expert panel.

Entrants need to use the hashtags #lovewhitsundays and #ourwhitsundays on their photos to be considered.

Tourism Whitsundays CEO, Tash Wheeler, said the ‘visiting friends and relatives’ (VFR) market is a crucial for the region.

“Research has shown the VFR market is an essential market for The Whitsundays and one that we believe will be eager to travel post-COVID-19 as more restrictions are eased. Why wouldn’t you choose The Whitsundays as your place to reconnect post-COVID?” Wheeler said.

In partnership with Whitsunday Regional Council, the campaign will run for eight weeks.

Whitsunday Regional Council mayor, Andrew Willcox, said: “We might be small on land size, population and marketing funding, but The Whitsundays boasts one of the most beautiful and diverse environments in the world, and with no new COVID-19 cases reported in over a month, we are also one of the safest.

“Whitsunday residents are proud and resilient people and this campaign gives them the chance to show off their passion for the region and help kick start our economy.”

Tourism Whitsundays is not the first tourism body in Queensland to begin ramping up its marketing efforts. Earlier this month Visit Sunshine Coast launched a campaign to get Queenslanders interested in the region ahead of the upcoming school holidays.

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