The Palaszczuk Government has announced stage two of the ‘Wonders of the Whitsundays tourism campaign’ will be launched in 2020 following the overwhelming success of the first stage of the initiative.
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said phase two of the campaign would see the region’s new brand taken to market for the first time.
“Driving holiday bookings means supporting tourism jobs in the Whitsundays,” Ms Jones said.
“That’s why the government has invested in this campaign in partnership with Tourism Whitsundays and local businesses to help attract more tourists to the region.
“This is off the back of widespread publicity around the Intercontinental Hayman Island Resort and Daydream Island Resort re-openings.”
Ms Jones said the first phase of the campaign delivered more than 2000 holiday bookings and $3.53 million in sales to Whitsundays tourism operators during the three-month campaign period.
“The results of this campaign are a huge victory for the Whitsundays which relies heavily on tourism,” she said.
“This campaign brought some of the region’s biggest operators together to promote the wonders of the region overall and drive benefits across the whole industry in the Whitsundays. Phase two will build on that momentum.”
Tourism Whitsundays CEO Tash Wheeler said the campaign was a great success.
“The collective group are all thrilled with the results this campaign has yielded not only in dollar value but also recognise the success this campaign has had in consumer awareness, not only for their individual brands but across The Whitsundays as a destination.
“It was also great to have some of the major operators in The Whitsundays working as a collective group. We hope these successful relationships can continue as opportunities arise in the future.”
Stage one of the Wonders of the Whitsundays campaign ran in the key markets of Sydney and Melbourne, as well as across Queensland, from June to August, and was a co-operative partnership between the Palaszczuk Government, Tourism Whitsundays, Cruise Whitsundays, Daydream Island Resort, Hamilton Island and InterContinental Hayman Island Resort.
Stage two will see 11 local businesses join the campaign which will build on the awareness already generated through out-of-home advertising, social media, digital and search, as well as content partnerships with relevant travel brands.
Tourism is worth $671 million to the Whitsundays economy – almost a quarter of the region’s gross regional product – and support 6300 jobs, more than one third of employment in the region.
