Qantas and Tourism Australia have signed a $20 million deal to promote Australia to the world.
The three year agreement involves a joint investment from Qantas and Tourism Australia to attract more international visitors to Australia, with a focus on the United States, Asia, the United Kingdom and Europe.
With an emphasis on digital marketing, the new agreement will see Tourism Australia and the national carrier invest in joint campaigns that will be supported through public relations, social media and trade activities, and includes an anonymised data sharing arrangement to better reach customers considering travelling to Australia.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce and Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan signed the deal today, marking a new era of partnership between the two organisations.
Joyce said Qantas’ multi-million dollar investment with Tourism Australia was about continuing the momentum of the tourism boom to deliver bigger benefits for Australia. 'Both Qantas and Tourism Australia want the same thing – a strong tourism industry that makes Australia the first choice for people all over the world. With tourism both to-and-within Australia on the rise, it’s the ideal time for us to join forces once again.'
The CEO continues, 'Over the past two years Qantas has been increasing capacity to destinations around the world, building our alliances with the world’s biggest airlines, and investing in our fleet, lounges and technology to make sure that visitors to Australia get the best possible travel experience.
'This new investment builds on the marketing we already do and our partnerships with state and territory governments to put Australia’s best foot forward.
'Qantas has always been the biggest private sector supporter of Australian tourism and we will continue to focus on growing visitor numbers.'
In the past year alone, Qantas flew more than three million international visitors to Australia – more than any other airline – helping drive a double digit percentage increase in tourists from Asia, in particular.
Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said he was extremely pleased to have a formal multi-year agreement with Qantas once again.
'When you consider the nature of our respective businesses, this is a deal which just makes sense – for Tourism Australia, for Qantas and, most of all, for Australian inbound tourism. The shared resources this agreement brings together are considerable and we’re very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead to grow international inbound traffic and increase regional dispersal,' said O’Sullivan.
'The plans we have around data sharing are particularly exciting, allowing us to be more efficient and effective with our advertising but also enabling us to provide consumers with a much more relevant and personalised online experience.'
Qantas invests more than $80 million in promoting Australia to the world. In addition to the new partnership with Tourism Australia, this contribution to tourism promotion includes marketing partnerships with New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory marketing agencies. This is over-and-above Qantas’ direct advertising and owned media activity across its global network.
A recent Deloitte Access Economics report found that, in 2014/15 the Qantas Group facilitated $9.5 billion in tourism expenditure in Australia, or one in every nine dollars spent, supporting 105,000 jobs across the country.
Qantas and Tourism Australia have collaborated on smaller projects over the past six months, including promoting the destinations featured in Qantas’ latest safety demonstration video.
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First Class fliers to get haute pyjamas
Qantas has unveiled its new Martin Grant-designed pyjamas and slippers for customers travelling in International First, offering luxurious and comfortable sleeping attire.
Grant also designed the Qantas cabin crew uniform introduced in 2013 and the pilots uniform due to roll out in October 2016.
Grant has also designed stylish male and female amenity kits in the same navy hues as the pyjamas. It features a range of bespoke hydrating ASPAR by Aurora Spa products, Martin Grant-designed travel socks, dental kit, ear plugs and deodorant. It also features a special eye mask designed by Martin that cups the eyes for maximum comfort and light block out.
Qantas head of customer product and service development, Phil Capps, said customer feedback makes it clear the pyjamas are a popular element of the Qantas product offering across the airline’s premium cabins. “Qantas is one of only a few airlines in the world that provides complimentary pyjamas in both First and Business Class and more than 95 per cent of our passengers travelling on overnight international flights change in to them so we are well aware of how important they are on the comfort scale.”