Come on down, Tourism Tasmania's TV campaign declares

THE latest instalment in Tourism Tasmania's "most successful campaign"  aims to entice more visitors this autumn.

THE latest instalment in Tourism Tasmania's "most successful campaign" has been released early in the hope of boosting visitor numbers this autumn.

The third phase of the Go Behind the Scenery campaign kicked off yesterday, with television advertising in Sydney and Melbourne.

Premier Lara Giddings attended a launch yesterday, alongside Tourism Minister Scott Bacon and Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin.

Ms Giddings said yesterday the Go Behind the Scenery campaign had been the most successful for the tourism sector for many decades.

"We are now seeing record numbers of tourists visiting the state, with well over one million visitors now coming to Tasmania and that doesn't even include those on the many more cruise ships that we're seeing enjoying our harbours around the state, too," she said.

"Tourism is looking up, Deloitte has highlighted it as one of the four or five super sectors which Tasmania will benefit from in the future."

But Ms Giddings ruled out extra funding for tourism marketing.

Mr Martin said "for about every million dollars invested in marketing we get about $9 to $16 million returned to the state in economic activity".

He said the sector wanted to boost visitor numbers to 1.5 million in the next 10 years.

"That kind of growth would mean an extra $1 billion in visitor spending," he said.

Mr Bacon said Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland were target markets for the latest campaign instalment.

He said Tourism Tasmania had contributed $1.7 million towards the $6.6 million campaign, which was also supported by airlines and travel agents.

He said the third instalment was brought forward a month in order to keep tourists coming in the winter season, which typically saw numbers decline.

Ms Giddings recently turned down Mr Martin's request that the Premier take on the tourism portfolio if re-elected.