Tourism Australia launches new campaign, even as the T20 World Cup beams from 7 cities

Tourism Australia's ‘Come and Say G’day’ campaign focuses on landscapes such as Uluru and Nitmiluk Gorge, in a nod to its Indigenous culture. (Representational image: Ondrej Machart via Unsplash)

When in Australia, you're bound to hear the unmistakably Aussie greeting “G’day!” No wonder then that Tourism Australia chose G’day as the title of a new short film, made to attract international tourists.

Tourism boards and national carriers typically have stellar content - the countries' natural beauty and cultural riches - to work with. India's Incredible India! campaign is a case in point. And G'day is no exception either.

The film follows Ruby and Louie, two CGI animated characters as they ‘break out’ of a gift shop and explore the sights the country has to offer, including the Sydney Harbour, Great Barrier Reef as well as Melbourne’s laneways.

The short film’s firm focus on the country’s natural landscapes such as Uluru and Nitmiluk Gorge, is a nod to its rich Indigenous culture. Notably, the film features a fresh new cover of the classic Aussie song Down Under, sung by an up-and-coming Australian band King Stingray in both English and Yolŋu Matha, an Indigenous language from northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

The tourism board has alliances in place with select airlines, State Tourism Organisations and key distribution partners such as Thomas Cook, and SOTC, to amplify their campaign activity. In fact, Air India and Qantas have tripled their direct aviation capacity from 8 flights/week in 2019 to 24 flights/week in 2022.

Says Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager India, Tourism Australia: “India has ranked as the number two inbound market for Australia since the reopening of the Australian borders earlier this year, and will be the first inbound market to recover to 2019 levels. Indian arrivals to Australia for the period April to August 2022 stand at 141,670 - 86 percent of pre-Covid levels.”

Indeed, the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 alone is witnessing close to 20,000 supporters from India.

Australia’s Department of Home Affairs is streamlining its visa services to attract corporate incentive and MICE arrivals and a five-year Tourism MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) has been signed between India and Australia to strengthen bilateral relations across tourism, education, trade and investment between the two countries.

“These initiatives will go a long way in helping us achieve our vision of one million arrivals by 2030,” Nishant signs off.