Tourism promotion to benefit Northern Rivers
[author]Chris Dobney [/author]
A new promotion for the Legendary Pacific Coast touring route will roll out in the coming weeks, just in time to target the Christmas market, according to Tourism Northern Rivers.
The Legendary Pacific Coast brand was launched in November last year, with its website and free iPhone app providing information for anyone travelling north of Sydney along the Pacific Highway.
This year’s $130K media campaign will reinforce the message throughout regional NSW, including places to stay and activities on offer along the Pacific Coast corridor in northern NSW.
A 15-second TV commercial will anchor the campaign together with online, radio and print advertising across regional NSW.
There will also be prominent billboards at Ballina and Grafton reminding tourists.
Northern Rivers Tourism CEO and Legendary Pacific spokesperson Russell Mills said it is good timing for summer.
‘It’s a highly competitive market, so you’ve got to be in it to win it. It’s always important to be out there when are people are travelling for holidays.’
Fending off criticism that the region could have done with the publicity during the middle of the year, he said, ‘Doesn’t mean we won’t be advertising in autumn and winter but we’d be missing out on potential lucrative business if we weren’t advertising in the coming months.’
The Legendary Pacific represents four regional organisations plus more than 210 tourism operators, including accommodations, tours and attractions, with some funding coming from government.
Mr Mills said that governments are coming around to recognising that NSW regions are as important as, if not more important than, Sydney when it comes to promoting the state.
‘Regional NSW gets 70 per cent of all visitors to the state. If people aren’t visiting the regions then 70 per cent of their contribution to the industry will be going away.’
The campaign will run to end of January with a break over the Christmas-New Year period.
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