Tourism Whitsunday – The 4:01 Buzz EXTRA

Thanks to the investment from Tourism Whitsundays, Tourism and Events Queensland, Tourism Australia and many members, we have seen a variety of television broadcasts go to air. These broadcasts have resulted in almost $8 million in publicity for the destination and can be seen across a variety of shows including Travel Guides and the TODAY Show.

During last week’s TODAY Show broadcast the team launched the White on Whitehaven Long Lunch by Fish D’vine event. This event announcement coincided perfectly with TODAY Shows visit. We pitched the announcement as part of the weather crosses and the TODAY team loved it, (we suggest lots of things to include in the broadcasts however at the end of the day, when it comes down to it the Producers have the final say on what goes to air). This is an excellent example of how we can leverage television coverage to have an impact on a campaign or product especially when there is a strong call to action. Just a little over 24 hours after launching the event, our website had almost 3K unique hits and the event had sold out.

The other thing we try and do as much as possible is encourage our partners to showcase different areas of the region throughout the year. When we reflect on the past seven months of TV productions we have proudly featured all corners of the Whitsunday Region from Airlie Beach, Bowen, Collinsville, Islands and Proserpine. Not to mention a myriad of experiences and segments.

It’s important to understand that these productions would not be possible without partnerships and we are very grateful for the support and investment we receive from Tourism Australia, Tourism and Events Queensland and Whitsunday Regional Council each year.

We know that our members significantly support the various opportunities we send out and this support needs to have a return on investment which sometimes with publicity is hard to measure. The last thing we want to do is run activity that does not deliver outcomes so we are constantly monitoring our socials, website and consumer feedback via our Visitor Information Centre (VIC). Our VIC team received some great feedback on the Travel Guides production recently when welcoming visitors to region:

…I had another couple in at the VIC today from Adelaide. When I handed them a Reefsleep brochure they said “we recognise this from that tv show the other day.” I said “Travel Guides?” Then I asked what they thought about it and they said it was absolutely brilliant. People are able to identify local operators and products just from viewing the show…

Tourism Whitsundays is always looking at different marketing and PR opportunities to gain value and return on investment to the region and our members.

We hope you enjoy catching up on some of the TV broadcasts that have featured our wonderful region these past months! Stay tuned as we have many more productions on the way, from social media partnerships to international broadcasts.

Kind regards,
Tash Wheeler
Chief Executive Officer