Australia targets UK in £150m tourism push
The UK is to get the first chunk of a £150 million global marketing push by Australia.
A spend of more than £4 million has been allocated to the UK by the Australian Tourist Commssion.
The first burst of advertising is due to run for a month from 26 May followed by a second in the autumn.
The promotional activity will include advertising on TV, online and billboards around London.
The ATC hopes to broaden Australia’s image and appeal to potential visitors. The country atttracted a record 673,000 UK arrivals last year, up five per cent on 2002. A similar rise is forecast for this year.
Agents are being encouraged to qualify for a free online training programme on the Brand Australia launch initiative. As an incentive, agents who sign up on www.specialistaustralia.com and qualify by 11 June will be entered into a draw on a fam trip to Australia. The ATC and Qantas plan 100 dedicated trips for qualified Aussie Specialist agents this year.
Window displays, merchandise and travellers guides will also be available to agents wishing to capitalise on the ATC marketing activity.
More than 1,100 agents are qualified Aussie Specialists and a further 2,500 are working through the training programme.
The campaign will use the tag line ‘Australia. A different light’.
ATC marketing director Europe Emma Bradley claimed the new Brand Australia approach was “a major shift away from traditional ‘picture postcard’ destination marketing and one which we feel our trade partners will be able to embrace”.
She added: “In recent years our campaigns have focussed on ‘persuading’ people to visit Australia by overcoming the perceived barriers auch as cost and time. While we believe consumers will now consider visiting Australia for their annual two week holiday at the very competitive prices available, the new campaign is a move away from this rational marketing approach. We now aim to inspire people and build such an emotional drive that the barriers fade into insignificance.”
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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