Tourism Tasmania
Sarah Clark
Winter is here, and at Tourism Tasmania we have been working hard to entice Australians to come and experience our warm hospitality, long dark nights, and crisp fresh air this Off Season. I am thrilled to see a huge and vibrant Dark Mofo festival take off and a strong program of winter events across the state to look forward to. Changing people’s perceptions of what a winter holiday can be is a continuous effort, particularly when our research shows that 68 per cent of Australians tend to wish winter away. So, as part of this year’s Off Season campaign, we launched ‘Winternships’ (i.e. Winter Internships) to help people learn how to ‘become a winter person’. Applications opened for 10 unique internship experiences with a Tasmanian tourism operator from baby-sitting Tasmanian devils, helping to distill the finest of whiskeys, to skippering a floating sauna, there’s an exciting and unique winter experience for every visitor to discover. Designed to be a fun and creative way of creating conversation around Tasmania and our Off Season offerings, we recruited comedian and actress Celia Pacquola to test out some of the ‘Winternships’ and help spread our message. So far, the campaign has reached an audience of 324 million across 274 pieces of coverage (and counting), proving a success in getting people talking about Tasmania’s Off Season across TV, radio, social media and print and online media.
visitor market for Tasmania. Travellers from Singapore are increasingly seeking cool-climate holidays to escape year-round heat and humidity, with the campaign forming part of an ongoing program that raises awareness of Tasmania in key international markets.
CELIA PACQUOLA AT KUUMA NATURE SAUNA. PICTURE: TOURISM TASMANIA
Speaking of international markets, back in early May we led a team of 29 Tasmanian tourism operators at the annual Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE), which attracts over 700 influential agents and travel distribution buyers from around the world. International travellers made up 13.7 per cent of visitors to Tasmania in 2024, spending a total of $551.3 million, with many of those visitors booking their travel via trusted agents and travel distributers, so it is important that Tasmania has a strong representation at ATE. During the event, we also participated in the ‘Destination Showcase’ that focused on farm and food trails from across Australia. Tasmania is a premium destination for agritourism, and we were delighted to have Chef Analiese Gregory, Anna Terry from The Truffle Farm and Tim Parsons from Curringa Farm join us to present the best of what Tasmanian agritourism has to offer to an international trade audience. As we move through the depths of winter, it is encouraging to see the positive uptake of the Eat Local, Stay Local vouchers amongst Tasmanians which will offer a boost to many businesses over the coming months. I extend my wishes for a warm and rewarding season, and I look forward to connecting with many of you at the Tasmanian Tourism Conference in July.
CELIA PACQUOLA (RIGHT) AT DEVILS@CRADLE. PICTURE: TOURISM TASMANIA
Tasmania’s winter is not just for Australians to embrace. We also launched Winternships in partnership with Trip.com in Singapore, which is important international
59 Tasmanian Hospitality Review June/July Edition
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