A week-long tourism advertising blitz will kick off across the country, aimed at getting Australians to book their next domestic holiday and boost visitation to those regions that need it the most.
The $5 million marketing push is the first major activation of Tourism Australia’s Holiday Here This Year campaign for 2021 and aims to inspire people to take a well-deserved break and provide much-needed support to tourism operators and communities around the country.
Tourism minister Dan Tehan says the campaign was part of the Morrison Government’s ongoing support for the tourism industry.
“We want Australians to get excited about holidaying in Australia,” Tehan says.
“Our country is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and this year is an opportunity for Australians to discover why.
“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 Australian managing director Phillipa Harrison says that with many Australians returning to work, now was the perfect time to provide them with the inspiration and ideas to book their next holiday.
“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,” Harrison says.
“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 campaign, which runs from January 31 to February 6 has been developed with Tourism Australia's creative agency M&C Saatchi and media agency UM.
It is the latest burst of activity as part of Tourism Australia’s ongoing domestic marketing initiative Holiday Here This Year, which aims to stimulate demand throughout the sector by getting Australians travelling safely across the country and booking holiday experiences.
It will feature Australian destinations, tourism products and experiences, including areas impacted by last summer’s bushfires.
Tourism Australia chief marketing officer Susan Coghill says the campaign taps into strong consumer sentiment to travel domestically.
“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," Coghill says.
“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 week of activity combines event sponsorships, publisher created content and in-program editorial integration as well as national advertising running across key television programs, online and print, and 2,500 outdoor ads.
As part of the nation-wide initiative, Tourism Australia is also encouraging the industry to coordinate an aligned advertising push across their own marketing and social media channels during the same period.
According to data from Nielsen Ad Intel, Australian’s are embracing exploration of their own backyards.
Those living in the capital cities are opting to stay within their state, with a preference for 'other' areas above main cities.
A quarter (25%) of those in Sydney intend to travel within NSW, 18% of those in Melbourne intend to travel within Victoria, and 28% of those in Brisbane intend to travel within Queensland.
Contributing to these backyard adventures is the major push by Australian domestic tourism authorities in the second half of 2020.
In May to October 2020 Australian domestic tourism authorities had an estimated $24 million in advertising spend, a 28% increase compared to the previous six months.
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