03 November 2008

Emirates teams up with Tourism Australia to use new "destination" campaign

Being the first airline to collaborate with Tourism Australia in a marketing campaign, Emirates is stepping into a new era of "destination Australia", reports themovechannel.com.

Tourism Australia and Baz Luhrmann, filmmaker, have together officially launched a campaign to market Australia as the “must-visit destination” to the world.  The short-film style advertisements focus on urban-living career-driven internationals who are invited to go "walkabout" in Australia and rediscover themselves, romance and a sense of adventure.

"We’ve made that core storyline into two short-film-like stories of contemporary people who are stressed and disconnected from their loved ones and their true selves, and who find their centre and their release in Australia," Nick Baker, Executive General Manager Marketing for Tourism Australia, said.

Tourism Australia will be riding on the back of Baz Luhrmann’s new epic film Australia, which is due to be released later this year. 

"We knew that this huge film would create a wave of publicity that would put the country in the spotlight around the globe," Tourism Australia Managing Director Geoff Buckley said.  "And we found that the film’s story had a remarkable resonance for what we do marketing the country as a travel destination."

Emirates has now jumped on board the campaign in the UK, with national newspaper titles and weekend supplements featuring the "Arrived… Departed" print advertisements to follow the same theme found in Luhrmann's short-film advertisements. 

The newspapers will feature the ads over three weekends, which will reach around 14.8 million readers throughout the UK.

The massive marketing campaign is an attempt from Tourism Australia to boost traditionally strong tourism numbers to Australia from the UK and other parts of the world. 

International visitors to Australia need an Australia holiday visa, except for New Zealand passport holders.  Visitors wishing to travel the country can apply for a short-stay tourist visa, or ETA, which is valid for three months.  The conditions of the visa mean that tourists cannot work at any time during their stay in Australia.

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The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people apply for an Australia visa.

Article by Jessica Bird, Australian Visa Bureau.