Bligh Government commits extra $1.9m to Best Job campaign
Posted by editor (editor) on Jul 12 2009
2009 >>

Winner of the Best Job in the World tourism campaign Ben Southall maybe only a week into the job but early results show the tourism industry are receiving major financial benefits.

Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said the internationally lauded campaign had been so successful that an extra $1.985million will be spent to turn exposure into sales.

“While the initial campaign budget was $1.7m and returned more than $200 million in publicity, it would be negligent not to maximise our this opportunity.

“Tourism Queensland will be turning its focus to sales activities specifically targeted at generating benefits to small operators.

“And better still 80% of the program’s budget has been spent with Queensland businesses including cafes, hotels and tour operators.”

Mr Lawlor said the sales based element of the campaign started in earnest from July 1 when Ben started his job.

“Tourism Queensland is also continuing to generate Best Job in the World marketing opportunities such as running an online campaign, featuring two of the Top 16 candidates (Greg and James) which has focused on Tropical North Queensland’s adventure activities.

“Japanese candidate Mieko has also been signed as a Queensland tourism ambassador in Japan.

“Another campaign with Qantas leveraged off the publicity surrounding the Best Job in the World by offering $860 return airfares to Australia for US consumers who included Cairns on their itineraries. Bookings that included Cairns increased by 34%.”

Mr Lawlor added that working with our partners in-market, TQ’s UK, Ireland and Nordic team created six ‘Best’ themed tactical campaigns: Best Holiday in the World, Best Adventure in the World, Best Honeymoon in the World, Best Sailing in the World, Best Diving in the World and Best Natural Adventures in the World.

“As a direct result of these campaigns, STA Travel for example, reported that growth to Queensland during the campaign period of February to April was up 17.3 percent compared with 5.4 percent for Australia overall.

“There was also a Great Barrier Reef Holiday sale which ran in Sweden, Denmark and Norway after the announcement of the Island Caretaker.

“During the three day sale period, more Qantas bookings were made in the Nordic region than the UK and half of all Continental Europe and around 5000 booked passengers to Queensland could be directly attributed to the campaign.

“Major German travel wholesaler Boomerang Reisen has also reported some great results off the back of The Best Job in the World with 50 percent of all consumers interested in travelling to Australia and visiting Queensland. Boomerang Reisen has also reported that travel to Queensland increased by 20 percent for the first quarter of this year.

“Hamilton Island has also recorded increased sales as a result of the campaign.

Additionally, Amway Australia has decided to hold its 500 delegate conference on Hamilton Island in 2010.

Comment by Michial Coldwell, General Manager of Amway Australia, May 13, 2009:

“Hamilton Island has been selected as the destination for Amway Australia’s 2010 business conference. Hamilton Island offers the perfect mix of conference facilities in a beautiful environment.

“Recent publicity about Hamilton Island helped tip the balance in favour of this location. This decision will mean many thousands of dollars will be spent on meals, food and souvenirs. Great news for people working in the local tourism industry.”

Best Job in the World stats (as of July 6, 2009)
• Total overall stats since beginning of campaign to www.islandreefjob.com:
Visits – More than 8 million
• More than 94,000 subscribers have signed up to receive Best Job in the World Updates
• Ben has more than 2000 followers on Twitter

Last changed: Oct 06 2009 at 3:40 PM