Australia launches full-scale tourism campaign in China

Tourism Australia will launch its latest marketing campaign in China tomorrow – the first time it has launched a campaign overseas.

The organisation’s managing director Andrew McEvoy and a delegation from Tourism Australia flew out of Australia yesterday bound for Shanghai to launch the campaign.

Mr McEvoy said 90 per cent of its marketing was international so it made sense to launch it in the burgeoning market.

“China is the highest value international market for Australia and the fastest-growing,” he said.

The campaign – the latest phase of the There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign – will also begin to run in Australia, the USA and UK at the same time, before being rolled out to other markets.

While in the past Tourism Australia campaigns have involved big-hitting television commercials, such as Paul Hogan throwing another shrimp on the barbie and the controversial Where the Bloody Hell Are You? advertisement starring Lara Bingle, the new campaign will take an integrated approach with a strong emphasis on social media.

It will feature a “broadcast film” featuring “the best and brightest” of Australia.

“It’s a broadcast ad but it’s also about how it works in the digital environment,” Mr McEvoy said.

“It will be pushed out directly to people on our Facebook network.

“It’s not about the big celebrity anymore.”

Tourism Australia’s See Australia Facebook page hit three million fans last week, cementing it as the most popular tourism destination page in the world, followed by Las Vegas.

The campaign will also include a new app which can be used on tablet devices, with users able to make direct bookings.

“The big thing about this campaign is it is the most integrated campaign in partnership with state and territory tourism authorities that we have ever done,” Mr McEvoy said.

“The app is quite significant. It’s a first generation app which takes the consumer from the inspiration of a good old-fashioned ad they will be motivated then make it more tangible for them to book a trip to Australia.”

While in the past it has had a different campaign every year, Tourism Australia launched the There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign two years ago with the intention of it running for ten years.

The campaign encourages Australians to become advocates for their own country by sharing photos and experiences through social media.

“People want to tell the Australia story through their own words and pictures,” Mr McEvoy said.

“It allows Australia to speak for itself.”