Following the Queensland Government’s announcement to reopen travel and ease gathering restrictions, the five Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) across North Queensland are continuing to collaborate by launching a driving holiday campaign to encourage Queenslanders to take a holiday in the north.
- 'Drive North Queensland' campaign kicks off tomorrow encouraging Queenslanders to take a driving holiday in North Queensland
- Continued collaboration with tourism bodies representing Mackay, Whitsundays, Cairns, and the Outback to leverage travel restrictions lifting within Queensland
- Estimated to generate $1 million in publicity through partner channels and attract 60,000 website visitors from a reach of 750,000 viewers
- North Queensland tourism leaders experience some of the region's renowned attractions to mark the reopening of the tourism industry and launch campaign
- Following the Queensland Government’s announcement to reopen travel and ease gathering restrictions, the five Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) across North Queensland are continuing to collaborate by launching a driving holiday campaign to encourage Queenslanders to take a holiday in the north.
‘Drive North Queensland’ is off the back of the announcements made by the Premier on Sunday to ease restrictions across the state. Prior to that announcement, Townsville Enterprise and the four other RTOs representing the Cairns, Whitsundays, Mackay, and Outback regions appreciated the opportunity to present a proposal to the Premier last week to fast-track the reopening of North Queensland.
Launching tomorrow, the campaign centres upon promoting a variety of driving holiday itineraries to encourage Queenslanders to book a drive holiday in North Queensland this winter and leverage the newfound freedom to explore Queensland following the easing of travel restrictions.
Launching straight into a campaign was important to give businesses the confidence to reopen and support the industry hit first and hardest by COVID-19. The campaign aims to support the 37,400 direct jobs within North Queensland that rely on the tourism and hospitality industry, bringing much-needed confidence back to these businesses.
Data indicates that during the height of restrictions, two out of three Australians were already planning or thinking about a holiday and now with travel a reality again we anticipate this number to grow. By having a campaign ready and waiting to press go on we can ensure that North Queensland is top of mind for a post-isolation winter escape.
Considering 80% of our region’s domestic visitation is from within the State our itineraries are focused on showcasing the best of North Queensland. The itineraries have been designed to cater for a variety of holiday appetites, ranging from island hopping from the Whitsundays to Hinchinbrook Island, wildlife encounters with the wallabies of Cape Hillsborough to the Longhorns of Charters Towers, as well as itineraries for lovers of luxury onboard Magnetic Island sunset sails and driving north to private wilderness retreats in Paluma.
Across television, print and online, the Drive North Queensland campaign is estimated to generate $1 million in publicity through partner channels and attract 60,000 website visitors from a reach of 750,000 viewers.
The campaign has already started on television directing travellers to drivenorthqueensland.com.au to plan an itinerary taking in the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s oldest rainforest and the Outback, with new itineraries to be constantly added.
To launch the 'Drive North Queensland' campaign and mark the reopening of the tourism industry, tourism leaders from North Queensland RTOs have quite literally taken a plunge and dived headfirst into experiencing just some of the unique tourism attractions in the north.
Townsville Enterprise Tourism & Events Director, Lisa Woolfe today dived the soon to be opened Museum of Underwater Art at John Brewer Reef, Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO, Mark Olsen bungee jumped in Cairns, and Tourism Whitsundays CEO, Tash Wheeler took a joyride on a jet boat all promoting the one-stop-shop of North Queensland drive holiday itineraries at drivenorthqueensland.com.au. It was also a wonderful opportunity today to celebrate and promote nature's greatest gift to the world, the Great Barrier Reef, on none other than World Reef Day!
These are just some of the hundreds of unique experiences on offer across our region and our operators are swinging the doors wide open to Queenslanders to take a winter holiday in the North.
We’ve proven our voices are louder when united so when the opportunity came to partner with Cairns, Whitsundays, Mackay and the Outback again it was an obvious choice.
