The latest quarterly marketing results for Townsville North Queensland have revealed that Townsville Enterprise destination marketing activities have been viewed over six million times in the past three months, headlined by the launch of the Museum of Underwater Art reaching over three million people alone.
The period from 20 August – 23 October included campaigns such as the Museum of Underwater Art, Explore Next Door, SEQ Airline campaigns with Virgin Australia and AirNorth, and an ‘always-on’ social media strategy. Collectively these activities have generated almost $100,000 in local operator bookings, 800 airline bookings and a 6.5% increase in the Townsville North Queensland social media following.
Marketing Campaigns Highlights:
- Assets viewed over 6.4 million times Generated $95,000 in operator bookings
- Generated approximately 800 airline bookings
- 6.5% increase in Visit Townsville, Australia social media following
- Destination features across more than 38 State, National and Global media outlets including Australian Traveller, Queensland Weekender, Today Show, Urban List, Travel Weekly China, Good Morning America, Marie Claire (Italy)
- Hosted seven social media influencers with a combined reach of more than 540K followers
Townsville Enterprise Director Visitor Economy and Marketing, Lisa Woolfe said although the tourism and events sector continued to face unprecedented challenges, a strong marketing presence had been maintained by adopting new strategies to promote Townsville and North Queensland.
“Our campaign activities over the past three months have focused on promoting the region to Queenslanders and presenting our destination in a new way. We have specifically concentrated on key travel periods, such as leveraging school holidays, to reinvigorate the regional tourism industry as it starts to recover from the impacts of COVID-19,” said Ms Woolfe.
“The local tourism industry has shown unwavering resilience which has positioned our destination strongly as we look to further extend our campaign activity into previously non-traditional travel seasons – particularly the lead up to Christmas school holidays.
"In addition, in August we saw the much-anticipated opening of the Museum of Underwater Art’s Coral Greenhouse at John Brewer Reef just off Townsville. The social media activities alone for this launch reached over three million people across the globe and generated $3.2M in PR value for the region, reaching a further potential audience of 184 million.
“From a globally significant new tourism product launching to airline and regional council partnerships, our marketing activity has relied upon social media and PR strategies to promote and support the region as local operators navigate this new travel environment."
With another school holiday period quickly approaching across Christmas and New Year, attention has again turned to the family market with a dedicated summer campaign - ‘’Find your Shine” - heavily focused on conversion through sales on a new destination website (launching next week).
Ms Woolfe said the coordination of this campaign had been highly reliant on local operator involvement.
“Townsville Enterprise has been working closer than ever before with our local tourism operators across Townsville North Queensland to package up our destination in a fresh new way."
Adrenalin Dive Owner and Operator, Paul Crocombe credited the Museum of Underwater Art media attention for helping keep his business afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As a tourism operator traditionally dependent on international visitation, COVID-19 has had a drastic impact on our business,” said Mr Crocombe.
“But the recent launch of the Museum of Underwater Art on John Brewer Reef has seen unprecedented media coverage which has allowed us to continue to operate.
“MOUA has so far helped my business survive what has been the toughest year in my 32 years of operating.”
