The Gold Coast Bulletin

IT’S WHAT WE DO BEST

Tourism pitch thumbs up

- ANDREW POTTS

THESE are images from a new $2.5m tourism campaign to sell the Gold Coast.

It moves away from the controvers­ial ‘We are Gold Coast’ campaign to play to the city’s strengths: its theme parks, family fun and beaches.

A LEADING critic of the Gold Coast’s now-defunct tourism campaign has welcomed the city’s new back-to-basics campaign.

Destinatio­n Gold Coast has launched a new $2.5-million campaign aimed at the domestic tourism market in a bid to win back lapsed visitors.

Primarily focused on theme parks and attraction­s, it is promoting the Gold Coast as Australia’s playground.

It’s music to the ears of departing Village Roadshow CEO Graham Burke who branded a previous ‘We are Destinatio­n Gold Coast’ campaign as being “so bland it might as well be Hobart”.

Mr Burke last night told the Gold Coast Bulletin he was glad to see the back of it.

“This is absolutely brilliant and it shows a massive point of difference for the Gold Coast from NSW, Western Australia and Victoria,” he said.

“I think those states will look at it with great envy so they can eat their hearts out.

“What we have as a tourist destinatio­n is unique.”

Billboards and television ads will be run in major cities across the country

Destinatio­n Gold Coast chief executive Annaliese Battista said the campaign would play to the Glitter Strip’s strengths and take it back to a place it could own.

“People traditiona­lly think of the Gold Coast’s competitor­s as other beach destinatio­ns but we know that when people are considerin­g coming here they also think of Melbourne and Sydney,” she said.

“This is just the first step and we have sensationa­l offerings which cannot be equalled in Australia or the rest of the world. We are being bold and unapologet­ic about who we are and what to live up to the promises we make and deliver on them.”

Mayor Tom Tate welcomed the campaign.

“A key rule of marketing is to focus on your strongest attributes and our family-friendly nature, theme parks and value-for-money appeal has long been a selling point for our city for decades,” he said.

“I applaud those behind this campaign and look forward to seeing millions of happy families enjoying what us locals get to do everyday here on the Gold Coast.”

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT AND IT SHOWS A MASSIVE POINT OF DIFFERENCE FOR THE GOLD COAST

GRAHAM BURKE

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 ??  ?? An image from Destinatio­n Gold Coast's new campaign that heralds a return to the city’s strongest attributes.
An image from Destinatio­n Gold Coast's new campaign that heralds a return to the city’s strongest attributes.

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