Tourism Victoria is claiming that Melbourne is Australia’s top destination for domestic holidaymakers off the back of its popular ‘Play Melbourne’ campaign, which launched in June last year. Watch the video.
Play Melbourne was created by Publicis Mojo Melbourne, which lost the prestigious account to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne shortly after launching the campaign.
“In the year following the launch of the Play Melbourne campaign in June 2011, Melbourne attracted 454,000 more interstate holiday visitors than Sydney,” a Victorian Government spokesperson told Mumbrella, referring to the National Visitor Survey.
Melbourne comes out ahead of the Gold Coast and Sydney as the preferred domestic holiday destination among Australians aged 14 and over, she added.
“There was strong year-on-year growth in holiday visitors to Melbourne from Sydney (+34.8%), while visits from South-East Queensland (Brisbane and Gold Coast) also increased (+4.7%),” she said.
Clems has yet to produce a new campaign for Tourism Victoria, more than a year after it took over the account from Mojo, which worked on the account for 18 years.
Industry sources suggest that Tourism Vic’s marketing budget is extremely tight having just gone through its annual budget cycle, and new work will not be released until next year.
The tourism body would not comment on cuts to its marketing budget. It merely stated: “Tourism Victoria continues its marketing internationally and nationally, working with key partners to increase visitation and expenditure to the state.”
The Play Melbourne TVC, which has been viewed more than 1m times, features Pia McGeogh, the girlfriend of Nic Cester from the band Jet.
