Tourism Australia and Visa form global partnership

Tourism Australia and Visa have entered into a three year partnership, using Visa’s Cross Border (#notatourist) campaign to demonstrate why ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’, with a focus on increasing the number of international holiday makers Down Under and how much they spend when they are here.

Both parties will commence work in the Asia Pacific region to extend promotions highlighting Australia’s exceptional food and wine as well as the unique coastal and aquatic experiences through banking partners, travel partners and merchants to convert interest into increased tourism expenditure in Australia.

“Across all of our target markets Australia is a ‘must-see’ destination, and high yielding international travellers have been responding very well to our global consumer marketing campaign, ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’,” said John O’Sullivan, Tourism Australia’s Managing Director.

“We are now increasingly working with partners to better target international travellers and make sure we turn the interest our campaigns create into tourism’s contribution to the Australian economy.”

Visa’s Cross Border campaign, #notatourist, complements Tourism Australia’s strength in social media marketing and the agency’s remit to encourage visitors to disperse throughout the country.

“Visa’s Not a Tourist campaign is designed to engage those that are looking for authentic local experiences. We will be providing local knowledge to travellers to help them explore destinations beyond the regular tourist sites, with our platform enabling them to be ambassadors or tour guides for their favourite travel spots," said Chris Clark, Group Executive for Asia Pacific at Visa Inc.

“Visa’s breadth of acceptance, security and other convenient benefits ensures travellers can make the most of opportunities and unique experiences they seek during their travel. We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Tourism Australia to extend the #notatourist campaign to feature Australian locations and tell the world why ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’,” Mr Clark added.

Key markets identified in the Asia Pacific region for the partners to work together include China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Japan and South Korea.

Tourism Australia and Visa have also agreed to share research and insights that will assist in understanding the consumer, enabling the partners to effectively target inbound travellers and track campaign activity as well as measure patterns and key spend categories in Australia.

“Our partnership will commence with a campaign in China, our highest value inbound market, targeting ‘free and independent’ millennial travellers,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

“The Visa #notatourist message speaks strongly to this audience, encouraging young Chinese travellers to get off the beaten path and experience Australia as locals, not just as tourists.”

China is currently Australia’s largest inbound market in terms of visitor spend with Chinese visitor expenditure reaching $7 billion (12 months ending June 2015), up 32 per cent from the previous year.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia