New Queensland tourism marketing campaign assuages border fears

An “aggressive” domestic advertising campaign will be launched in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday evening to lure tourists back to Queensland after a year of controversial border closings.

The tourism campaign announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk this month, plays on the state’s success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its “gold standard health practices”.

“There is no excuse to stress this fact in the south – it’s another big bait,” said Ms. Palaszczuk.

Confidence in travel was decimated after a series of snaps during the summer vacation, with many Australians still alive concerned about crossing national borders.

Queensland Small Business Minister Di Farmer said a “key component” of the campaign was reassuring tourists in Sydney and Melbourne that they could get refunds on their bookings if the borders were closed again.

Loading

“I know people have been hit in the past, but I think this campaign makes it clear that there are flexible booking conditions and that tourism companies are COVID safe,” she said.

“We’re going straight to this issue of COVID security and the issue of trust in travel bookings.

“We say to people, ‘Queensland is fantastic, if you have any worries, don’t worry, Queensland is good to go’.”