A new campaign showcasing the Riverina launched today, promoting the region as a relaxing holiday destination.
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Tourism expert Richie Robinson said the campaign ‘Go with the Flow’ will aim to reach the larger surrounding cities, providing an alternative getaway choice.
“The campaign will really start to position the Riverina as a holiday destination in the minds of people in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, regional NSW and Victoria,” he said.
The general manager of Destination Riverina Murray said it would fill a gap in the region’s tourism market.
“The Riverina has been performing well from a tourism perspective particularly from a visiting friends and family and business travel perspective, but we’ve seen a huge opportunity to grow that holiday travel to the region for an older demographic and experience all we have to offer,” Mr Robinson said.
“There’s so many amazing food and drink businesses and nature-based experiences and we really think this campaign will start to position the Riverina in people’s minds and get them to start planning their holidays here.”
Research behind the campaign determined the primary target market to be couples aged 45-65 with no children at home.
“We determined they [45-65] are the best target market and they have the most appetite to come to the Riverina - they’re happy to jump in their car and go for a long drive and take their time having a look around,” Mr Robinson said.
The campaign will be completely digital according to Mr Robinson.
“[The campaign] will go across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and of course your websites that you’ll be surfing through, and will feature 15-30 second videos with some beautiful imagery of places like Wagga Beach, the Catania Fruit salad Farm in Griffith, and will really start to get the message out across digital platforms,” he said.
The results will be analysed through awareness rather than conversion rates, and Mr Robinson said they’re hoping to see an increase on the current 18 per cent awareness level in key areas.
At this stage, Mr Robinson said he was confident Wagga had the resources available to welcome more visitors.
“Wagga in particular has busy accommodation but not full, so there’s definitely a capacity for growth, particularly on weekends for those taking holidays,” he said.
The ‘Go with the Flow’ campaign is one of more future plans in the works.
“There will be other tests of younger and older demographics like grey nomads, so we won’t purely focus on that one demographic into the future but it will be a good test to see how the campaign goes and what the uptake is like,” Mr Robinson said.
“We’ll continue to do complimentary campaigns around this that really do support the younger and older demographic as well.”
Visitor economy officer at Wagga City Council, Matt Holt, said the campaign will benefit Wagga’s economic growth.
“It’s really highlighting our operators involved in agri-tourism and nature-based tourism, and in particular Belisi Equine farm stay, Thirsty Crow brewery, and of course here at Wagga beach,” he said.
“Tourism is an economic driver for the city, not only visitors coming but also people spending money at our businesses like cafes and even hire cars, so it is a driving force of local economy, and brings opportunity for growing employment in the industry as well.”
The campaign will run for two months from February 18 to April 28 2019.
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