John Fitzgerald ARTICLE
I would like to start off by congratulating all the award winners from this year’s Tasmanian Hospitality Association Awards for Excellence. I personally think these awards are extremely important. They provide an opportunity to acknowledge the excellent work of the tourism and hospitality industry in Tasmania and celebrate the hard work that goes into providing quality experiences to our visitors and local Tasmanians. Tasmania’s reputation in the foodie scene is growing exponentially and I was pleased to see the diverse range of food and drink establishments recognised in this year’s THA awards. There were some well-established operators and some that have only opened in the last couple of years and already riding the wave of success like Macq01, who took out awards in five categories - what a fantastic achievement! The latest Tasmanian Visitor Survey figures were published last month and show that our visitor numbers remain strong. For the first time, Tasmania has received 1.3 million visitors, up from 1.27 million the previous year. The results also reveal that total visitor spending has reached a record $2.4 billion. This represent 6 per cent growth compared to the same period last year with the average spend per night also increasing by 5 per cent. It is also pleasing that all the regions experienced growth in total visitor numbers during the year to June 2018, with the Cradle Coast regions receiving the highest growth rate of 4 per cent. Tourism Tasmania’s marketing campaigns are focused on providing authentic and unique stories of Tasmania and its people, and a majority of our stories are about or from regional areas. So it is great to see more of our visitors travelling further and spending more in our regional communities. These campaigns make up part of Tourism Tasmania’s highly targeted marketing program that is focussed on specific segments of the travelling Australian public. The audiences we target are more likely to connect with us and value what we have to offer. A fundamental aspect of our marketing program is to reach the right people with the right message at the right time. Underpinning this is a research program designed to understand our customers and recently we have identified two new groups of target customers.
Later this month, we will be holding a series of information sessions across the state to provide you with an update on our marketing program and our new market segments. The sessions will also include an update from the Tourism and Hospitality Supply Unit of the Department of State Growth and provide a chance to catch up with some of our team and other operators in your region. If you would like to head along to one of these sessions, keep an eye out for an invitation in our Tourism Talk newsletter or from your regional tourism organisation. Virgin Australia’s direct flights between Hobart and Perth commenced last month with strong ticket sales, especially from Perth to Hobart. This new service offers a great opportunity to drive greater growth in visitor numbers from the west, so we have extended the Feed Your Curious campaign in Western Australia to encourage further visitation. The Feed Your Curious campaign, which has run in all key markets, directs customers to the website gobehindthescenery.com.au which has everything you might need to plan a trip to Tasmania. The campaign website features 400 Tasmanian businesses and includes links to their websites. We have found that 80 per cent of traffic to our website is via mobile or tablet. This is a growing trend, so it is important that your business website is optimised for mobile to maintain a positive user experience. The campaign’s food and wine elements have been particularly popular with the website providing local tips on where to eat and drink around the state. It also allows the user to create tailored itineraries based on interests, trip length and region. Campaign results (so far) show that around 550,000 people have visited the site since the campaign’s commencement in May. This is a great outcome and we are excited to share some of the final campaign results with you in the next edition. I wish you all the best for the upcoming summer season, and look forward to seeing you at one of our information sessions later this month.
October 2018 www.tha.asn.au
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