ARTICLE JOHN FITZGERALD
Since I last wrote, Tasmania‘s had a fantastic festive season with a host of wonderful summer events. It‘s a great time to be in the state with so much to see and do. Even over the summer period, the team have been knuckling down with a big program of work for 2019 including our summer advocacy campaign which launched at the start of January. With many visitors and Tasmanians out and about holidaying in our state it is an ideal time to harness the promotional power of passionate advocates, encouraging them to share their own unique Tassie experiences with their friends and family. We know word of mouth recommendations are a powerful influence on people’s holiday choices and today’s likes and shares can bring tomorrow’s visitors. Our new campaign encourages visitors to share their Tasmanian experiences to their social networks using the mechanism A Quiet Little… #TassieStyle. Visitors and locals are seeing examples of A Quiet Little…#TassieStyle on billboards at Hobart and Launceston airports and through targeted social and digital advertisements. The campaign aims to capitalise on Tassie’s sold-out summer to build demand for the slightly quieter months. You too can become an ambassador for our state and share those quiet little moments on social media that speak to real Tasmanian experiences. Read more about the campaign and how to get involved at www.tourism.com.au/ marketing/campaigns/a-quiet-little This summer also saw another spectacular finish of the 2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart. The big maxis, including line honours winner Wild Oats XI, headed into Storm Bay just after sunrise and were given a warm Tassie welcome with vessels of all shapes and sizes heading out onto the River Derwent to follow her to the finish line of this great ocean race. In anticipation of the 75th race in 2019, Tourism Tasmania has been working closely with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia to leverage the yacht race and build awareness of Tasmania through targeted adverts and editorial in various publications of Offshore Magazine. Tourism Tasmania also brought a taste of Tasmania to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Corporate Luncheon in Sydney in December. Guests were served freshly shucked oysters from Blackman Bay Oyster Butlers and offered tastes of The Splendid Gin and The Splendid Summer Cup – which went down well on a perfect Sydney day. Mona Foma is now over for another year and there has been an impressive amount of national publicity around Launceston and the event. Events like these really do shine a spotlight on Tasmania and provide an incentive for visitors to come to our unique events and stay longer to experience what we have to offer.
Mona Foma and Qantas, supported by the Tasmanian Government through Tourism Tasmania, provided a special Air Mofo charter flight from Melbourne to Launceston for the event. Tourism Tasmania leveraged the Air Mofo hype through public relations and influencer activity, and through multiple content opportunities to build greater awareness of Launceston and northern Tasmania. As part of the promotion, 25 lucky competition winners, along with five of their friends, joined the flight for a weekend of fun and frivolity in Launceston. Tourism Tasmania enhanced the competition winners’ experience by adding further Tasmanian touch points to their journey. On arrival, they received a gift from Tourism Tasmania leveraging A Quiet Little #TassieStyle campaign comprising of The Splendid Gin, Harvest Market vouchers, confectionary and a Launceston itinerary. On departure, passengers were farewelled with A Quiet Little Drink #TassieStyle Cape Grim water prior to boarding the return charter flight. A greeting event was held on arrival of the flight into Launceston to convey a warm Tassie welcome to the state, and seed return visitation. The latest visitation data has been released and shows that the state is continuing to attract visitors and has strong appeal. In the year ending September 2018, we welcomed 1.3 million visitors who stayed more nights and spent a record $2.4 billion in our communities. Importantly, the total number of holidaymakers has grown by 2 per cent and they are staying longer with holiday nights up 8 per cent from the previous 12-month period to 5.87 million nights. The figures also reveal that 69 per cent of all visitor nights were spent outside of the capital. This is reflected in regional visitation with all regions experiencing steady visitor growth. The Cradle Coast region has shown the strongest rate increase, up 5 per cent from the previous period. The growth in the regional dispersal of visitors is a positive sign and it’s good to see visitors exploring beyond our capital city and spending money on petrol, tours, attractions, accommodation and other goods and services around the state. Ensuring the value of our visitors is experienced in local visitor economies is a key focus of the T21 strategy. There are a number of key priority actions that are underway and being developed to ensure we continue to see visitors staying longer, seeing more of the state and spending more in our regional communities. I hope you have a great summer/autumn season and I look forward to updating you on what we have planned for our winter campaign. watch this space!
24 enquiries@tha.asn.au 03 6220 7300
Hospitality Review
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