N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

N O O S A

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Tourism Noosa are reworking the 2020-2022 portion of the original Strategic Plan 2017-2022 to reflect the macro and micro factors of the changed environment due to COVID-19.

Tourism Noosa is undergoing a major stakeholder engagement exercise until Friday, 5 June to gather information, ideas and insights from the communities and operators within Noosa in order to deliver a strong and market-relevant plan for our region.

Driven by these community needs and a sustainable tourism vision, the new Tourism Noosa Strategic Plan 2020-2022 will inform the long-term marketing outputs for how the Noosa region is marketed.

To begin with, however, the short-term post-CV19 rebuilding strategy together with Noosa Council’s COVID Business Response plan is the first step to restimulating tourism in our region. This 6-8 week marketing plan is integral to supporting our region now and has been formed using current market data and insights.

Here’s how we plan to do it.

OutlookMay-June – initial 6-8 week market recovery planJuly onwards – Strategic Plan 2020-2022 implementation

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

1 Forward bookings for accommodation within the Noosa region

2 Forward bookings for tours and experiences

3 Maximise drive audience market share over other destinations

4 Dispersal across the Noosa region (beach, river, hinterland)

5 Support F&B sector to provide the best visitor experience possible while they’re here

6 Brand positioning of Noosa to convey destination as a safe, clean & green place to visit for day trips and overnight, supporting all tourism operations

6-8 Week Market Recovery PlanObjectives for restimulating tourism in Noosa:

Planning & research

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

International trade marketing (always-on); Business Events – program development ready for launch 15 July; Signature events in Noosa re-scheduling; Sector development begins

Translated insights from market research into campaign brief

Website development in progress – new content pages, updated booking engine, SEO and content rearchitecture

(Consumer communications via always-on social media, email marketing, website, affiliate channels)

Preparation, briefing, cementing strategy

Organic content - ‘Virtual Visits’ series; member promotion

Consultation | Campaign Development | Market Research

Major destination campaign development

Media partnerships activated

New booking pages live on visitnoosa

Brand awareness, forward bookings (drive) and building brand love

Paid social campaign promoting forward bookings for accommodation/ tours/experiences

Prepare and launch new website navigation

New content creation

Major destination campaign – paid social program launches

Event calendar goes live

Destination campaign integration into website

Phase 2 launch

Phase 1 launch

Bookings!Booking promotion – drive & interstate

Strategy reformulation

Translate data and evidence to formulate 2020-2022 strategy

P H A S E S

M A R K E T I N G O B J E C T I V E S

C A M PA I G N

S O C I A L M E D I A

W E B S I T E

E V E R G R E E N M A R K E T I N G

OT H E R

M AY J U N E

11 18 125 298 2215

Title – Post Covid-19 Initial Recovery Marketing Timeline

P H A S E S

M A R K E T I N G O B J E C T I V E S

C A M PA I G N

S O C I A L M E D I A

W E B S I T E

E V E R G R E E N M A R K E T I N G

OT H E R

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Prior to launching a major tourism campaign, Tourism Noosa are investing in a tactical ‘forward booking’ campaign that will be facilitated across our social platforms to both organic and paid audiences. Accommodation, tours and experiences are targeted here.

The key messages and calls to action centre around booking a holiday in Noosa from Saturday 13 June onwards and booking directly via the visitnoosa website. A competition will be run alongside this call to action to incentive consumer to act with urgency. For this initiative, the ads will be destination based, not property based, however some properties will be utilised to sell the product and diversity of our region.

Immediate Industry SupportSTARTS: Monday 25 May (3 weeks)

N OT E

All operators that have a BookEasy platform are

listed on our site, please make sure you have your images, overnight rates and room

details all up to date.

Noosa’s drive market is our primary audience for this short-term plan: Brisbane, Toowoomba, Gold Coast and north to Bundaberg.

Key media partnerships are being negotiated with lifestyle-based platforms to position Noosa as the first-choice holiday destination to our drive market.

Once border restrictions officially lift, Sydney and Melbourne will be targeted to re-engage our high value travellers to visit Noosa.

Targeted Audiences

Noosa’s drive market is our primary audience for this short-term plan.

Brisbane, Toowoomba, Gold Coast, Northern NSW, north to Bundaberg);

We are developing some key media partnerships with lifestyle-based platforms to highlight Noosa as the first-choice holiday destination to our drive market.

Once border restrictions

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Bundaberg

Noosa

BrisbaneGold Coast

Toowoomba

1: Drive Market

Sydney

Melbourne

2: Domestic Market

‘Nature as a life force’ sentiment: outdoor lifestyle, affluent adventurers

‘Clean & Green’: green travel enthusiasts; people seeking safe, nature-based destinations

Foodie market (discerning consumers)

Visiting friends & relatives market

Other segments we will be targeting:

N OT E

The VFR (visiting friends & family) market is forecasted to be a major market for travel in

the early months after restrictions ease. Be sure to reach out to your database with VRF opportunities (early bird bookings or book direct

and save offer) to encourage this visitation!

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Tourism Noosa has been working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic on developing a new campaign concept that resonates with our changed world.

Evidence-based research has informed the strategy and campaign concept that will appeal to consumer’s new desires of travelling to clean, green, safe and nature-based destinations.

The campaign concept is designed to be different – with so many tourism destinations going to market with tradition-style campaigns, Noosa can differentiate itself and cut-through the sea of sameness to reflect its natural points of difference. Stay tuned for more on this in weeks to come.

Major Destination Campaign

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Throughout 2020, TN has reintroduced the accommodation booking widget to allow for a full end-to-end user experience on the visitnoosa site. With the view to encourage a better customer journey by not having to jump between websites to action a booking (and risking leakage), we aim to deliver a friendly and productive experience for visitors to enjoy.

Tours and experiences are now active on the website and final user experience optimisations are being completed on all booking pages this week.

Digital Presence & Visit Noosa Website

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Additional functions and user experience initiatives are also in the pipeline and are due to be delivered by early July.

Social media continues to deliver positive engagement for our region and engagement from both domestic and international audiences have performed well, highlighting the appetite and success of our content over the quarantine period.

Digital Presence & Visit Noosa Website

100KInstagram Followers

Audience insights (in order):

i. Top social media international audiences: UK, US, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France.

ii. Top social media domestic audiences: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth.

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Over the last two months, TN has provided members with the opportunity to access complimentary business support across marketing, product and experiential development to assist with future business profitability and direct marketing opportunities to their own audiences.

These sessions are conducted weekly and are available to all TN members until the end of August. We have conducted over 30 support sessions to date.

TN also support the industry directly through in-kind, content-based initiatives such as Eat Local Noosa, Isolation Eats blog, social media-based experiences like Ocean Beats, international trade content circulation.

Member Support: Marketing Audits, Experiential Development & Business Support

The Tourism Noosa Strategic Plan 2020-2022 will provide additional insights into new ways of how we can support our members and industry in the future.

Media and PR are always-on activity for TN and throughout May, we have delivered features with Lonely Planet, Tropic Surf, TEQ, TA and celebrity mentions such as Lisa Wilkinson on The Project and the Hemsworth’s trainers on a viral facebook video:

Media and PR

WATCH THE V IDEO

WATCH THE V IDEO

(view at 41minutes & again at around 45minutes)

Other sectors we will be targeting:

Taking into the consideration the sectors that deliver best economic value to the Noosa region and consumer sentiment around what activities or experiences people will be seeking out, these are the key sectors that will be a focus coming out of CV19:

Weddings

Business Events

Additional sectors will be developed later in the year to meet the changing needs of the market and services returning to the market.

Food Tourism

Wellness – outdoor activity, adventure, nature-based

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

TN has continued to engage with its key international markets and trade partners to ensure Noosa is front of mind when borders re-open.

We have provided regular international updates to its international members to assist in their planning and rebuilding of their business.

A training webinar has been shared with wholesale, Inbound Tour Operators, agents and trade contacts (such as Tourism and Events Queensland and Tourism Australia)

to learn about Noosa while bookings have come to a standstill. Tourism Noosa has provided e-newsletters, images, video content and product updates to trade partners across EU, USA, Canada and UK for website content upgrades and contracting for 2021-2022 season, for domestic and international business.

A three year strategy has been completed for the Australia’s Nature Coast partnership (ANC), between Tourism Noosa, Visit Sunshine Coast and Fraser Coast Tourism and Events.

International Marketing

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

Latest international visitor numbers (December 2019), showed record growth of $113 million (+32%), with gains from most major markets:

A new international program will be announced later in 2020 once market conditions provide the opportunity for international travel.

International record growth

U K G E R M A N Y U S A

INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

$15 millionS P E N D S P E N D

$15 millionS P E N D

Up 22% on previous year

Up 25% on previous year

Up 76% on previous year

Up 32% on previous year

$113 millionS P E N D

$7 million

N O O S A ’ S TO U R I S M R E C OV E R Y M A R K E T I N G P L A N

• Reuniting with friends and loved ones – portray social reunions (F&B experiences, destination experiences)

• Repeat visitors: operators to welcome them back via EDM/social media

• People who frequently travel (3x/more p.a.) are more likely to travel post restrictions

• Motivations for travel: 60% leisure – 40% VFR

• VFR travel felt mostly by Millennials, who are the most restless

• Discounts and deals do not present as a driver

• 65% trust Australian operators to keep them safe

Key market insights:

Provide feedback: Respond to survey as part of Tourism Noosa’s Strategic Plan 2020-2022 consultation phase

Short term marketing: TN is promoting the Noosa region to the drive market as a priority, with the focus on forward bookings. Major destination campaign (phase 1) launched mid-late June, with phase 2 launching early July.

Long term marketing: Results of the consultation survey will inform the new Strategic Plan, of which marketing actions will be identified. Joint advertising opportunities will be available from July onwards.

Events: The event schedule is informed by government regulations, we will keep you up to date with any movement but for now, the Noosa Triathlon is scheduled as planned for late October, 2020.

Re-cap and Next Steps

All marketing activity is subject to change based on COVID-safe travel movement within the industry and government regulations.