Tourism Australia will launch its first global tourism campaign for two years tomorrow, a week before the Australian borders open to fully vaccinated international travellers on Monday 21 February.
With a lead message of “Don’t go small, go Australia!” the global campaign will kick off in the U.S and the U.K with activity to follow in Europe and Canada.
Speaking to Channel Nine’s Today Show, Tourism Australia MD Phillipa Harrison said, “They’ve missed us. We’ve missed them. We can’t wait to welcome them back.”
Previously used iconic celebrities including Kylie, Shane Warne and Chris Hemsworth are out in the campaign this time, and in are a host of stunning natural Australian icons and experiences on offer to tempt overseas travellers back to our shores.
The end result is a drool-worthy megamix of spectacular spots we’d no doubt all love to experience.
“Our hardest job at Tourism Australia is selecting the experiences to feature because we have so many beautiful and diverse things for tourists to do,” said Ms Harrison.
“So we’re focusing on the icons that they love and reminding them that they’re still here and then surprising them with some things that they don’t know about Australia and something a bit different. And that really helps the people who have been here before and gives them another reason to come back.”
Sharing the idea behind the “Don’t go small, go Australia” hook, Ms Harrison said, “This one is around the fact that people have been living smaller lives over the last two years and what better way to break out of that than to go big with a big Australian adventure.
“But you know, our campaigns are more than just catchy slogans. It’s around showcasing some of the incredible diversity and incredible experiences that we have in Australia. And that’s really what we focus on as part of this campaign,” she said.
Asked when Australia could see a return to pre-pandemic levels of arrivals, Ms Harrison said, “What we do know is that there is a lot of pent up demand for Australia out there.”
“As soon as the announcement came, the phone started ringing with our partners. Some are reporting call volumes that have tripled.
“We’ve seen that bookings have bounced back in other markets that have opened earlier than us very, very quickly to about 40 or 50 per cent. It’s going to take a little while longer than that to get back to pre-pandemic levels.
“But that’s why we have a long term strategy at Tourism Australia. We haven’t been quiet while we’ve been closed, and we have some exciting things in the pipeline to encourage people to keep coming back,” said Ms Harrison.
Speaking about the controversial three jab mandate for Victoria and maybe Queensland, Ms Harrison said, “There’s no doubt that a nationally consistent approach to policy matters just make it easier to plan and book an Australian holiday. But there is more friction out there when you’re booking international travel globally at the moment, and people are prepared to do that.
“Because they just want to come back. They just want to get back to their lives. And having an incredible holiday is just part of that.
“We will make sure that people are informed, but we will focus on the experiences they can have here and what they’ve been missing in the last two years,” she said.
Kudos to Tourism Australia for pulling a global campaign together literally 6-days after the government announced the border opening date on Monday.
More details are to be released tomorrow.