New campaign to get US, UK tourists to South Australia amid coronavirus outbreak
SA destinations will be splashed across billboards in Britain and the United States in a bid to draw tourists back to South Australia amid the coronavirus outbreak.
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Kangaroo Island’s Seal Bay, McLaren Vale’s D’Arenberg Cube and the Flinders Ranges’ Arkaba station will be splashed across billboards in Britain and the United States in bid to draw tourists back to South Australia.
It comes as new travel figures reveal Australia has lost hundreds of thousands of airline bookings in just 11 weeks in the wake of bushfires across SA, Victoria and New South Wales and the coronavirus outbreak.
A revamped tourism campaign will launch in the US and UK next week, with a focus on how safe Australia is as a destination and all of the experiences still available after the fires.
Gemtree Wines and D’Arenberg Cube wine tasting in McLaren Vale will feature alongside Seal Bay, one of KI’s premier tourist destinations that was untouched by the fires.
An advert showing a luxe Flinders Ranges camp out highlighting that “there’s still an Outback as golden as our sunsets” will be included in the campaign, which will run in airports, stadiums, on roadside billboards, on buses and in the London Underground and the Manchester Loop.
Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, LA and Seattle will be targeted in the US.
Tourism Australia research shows KI and wine experiences always perform well in campaigns.
They were also picked to show a diverse range of tourism experiences across SA.
The new campaign comes after State Environment Minister David Speirs last week gave a keynote speech in London spruiking the world’s single greatest record of Ediacaran fossils, at Nilpena Station in the Flinders Ranges.
And on Sunday, a world- leading tourism researcher said SA needed to heed the lessons from California and promote areas outside of bushfire-affected regions.
Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said: “In these tough times, some consumers will turn to countries with reputations like ours for offering fun times in a safe environment, such as SA destinations famous for offering the best of nature, relaxation and indulgence.”
He will meet Premier Steven Marshall and fellow tourism ministers in Canberra today as the Federal Government finalises its plan to stimulate the economy amid fears of a looming downturn.
Mr Marshall said a record amount would likely be spent on tourism this year.
He flagged plans to focus on attracting tourists from other states, New Zealand and within SA, as well as boosting tourism infrastructure. Tourism Australia figures show bookings from Britain are down 21 per cent on this time last year, down 34 per cent from the US, 22 per cent from Japan, and 49 per cent from India.
Bookings from China plunged 115 per cent, meaning there have been thousands of cancellations as well as no new bookings. The figures showed a slight recovery in bookings after the fires and before the coronavirus hit.
