T-QUAL Marketing Campaign Update
The 2012/2013 marketing activity for T-QUAL commenced on 24 October 2012. Activity to date includes consumer advertising, industry communications, and media relations. Tourism Australia, who is responsible for the marketing and promotion of T-QUAL have compiled a report on the current marketing activity.
This report provides an update on the status of this activity in the period from 16 December 2012 to 15 January 2013. Key highlights include:
· 29,478 unique visitors to TripAdvisor micro site (109% of campaign KPI of 27,000)
· Over 5,900 accredited products listed on the TripAdvisor micro site
· Three print advertorials published with the next one due for publishing on 17 February
· Blogger proposals for the T-QUAL Tick Race distributed with follow up meetings being arranged for three of them
To read the report please click here
February 25, 2013 at 1:33 pm | General | No comment
Tourism Australia – How to work with the National Tourism Organisation
Tourism Australia is our countries national tourism organisation which is responsible for attracting international visitors and encouraging Australians to travel domestically.
Many tourism businesses often forget to ensure they are keeping up to date with Tourism Australia activities and fail to make the most of the range of initiative and opportunities they have in place.
We have listed some of the ways that you can work with Tourism Australia:
- Subscribe to Essentials, Tourism Australia’s free weekly email newsletter – especially as this is the way you will find out about special industry offers and opportunities
- Become familiar with the industry website – it has a range of useful information for all tourism businesses
- Attend their free industry briefings – the next one in Melbourne is on Tuesday March 26th
- Access their range of valuable toolkits. Topics include Planning for Inbound Success and How to Generate Publicity
- Keep up to date on trends and insights within the industry via their Insight Files
- Make the most out of their range of research available including data on Visitor Arrivals, International Visitors, Market Profiles and more
- Get involved with Tourism Australia’s public relations activities – you should be sending them Media Releases from your business on newsworthy updates
- Visit and post on Tourism Australia’s Facebook page. They feature the best posts/images of Australian experiences every Friday
- Make sure your listings on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse is up to date – this feeds directly into the Australia.com website. (Contact onlinecomments@tourism.vic.gov.au to get listed)
If you are an established business and would like to work with Tourism Australia, the Business Development Managers are often your best contact point for information about Tourism Australia’s activities, events, research, and marketing opportunities.
The Victorian Busienss Development Manager is:
Kate Dale
Business Development Manager
Tourism Australia – SA, TAS, VIC, WA
Direct: 02 9361 1717
Email: kdale@tourism.australia.com
February 25, 2013 at 1:21 pm | General | No comment
Workforce Futures: Exciting Initiative for Tourism Businesses
2500 tourism and hospitality businesses throughout Australia will be able to undertake a comprehensive business analysis leading to a Workforce Development Plan, thanks to a new Workforce Development initiative.
With funding provided through both industry contribution and from government (through the National Workforce Development Fund) this new Workforce Development Initiative, to be known as Workfoce Futures, will really strengthen the nations tourism and hospitality industry.
Managed by Service Skills Australia (SSA) businesses will collaborate with an industry Skills Advisor to develop a plan that strategically responds to identified workforce issues impacting upon the business’s performance.
The initiative is built around a national network of 100 industry Skills Advisors whose engagement facilitates an informed approach to target skills development within businesses.
The Skills Advisory Network whilst targeting tourism and hospitality businesses in remote, regional, rural and major population centres, also ensures the inclusion of businesses within the 8 Tourism 2020 “hotspots”.
Workforce Futures is now “open for business”, and thanks to our network partners 100 Skills Advisors are resourced, trained and on the ground ready to engage with tourism and hospitality businesses across the country. Any tourism, travel and hospitality business can apply to participate as long as they meet the criteria:
- Business has a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Business has a written Business Plan
- Business has been trading for at least 12 months
- At least 25% of business activity is directly related to tourism and/or hospitality
- Willingness and capacity to actively participate in the Program (17.5 hours across a 6 month block)
For further information on the project visit www.workforcefutures.com.au or contact Stephen Ollerenshaw Program Manager, Service Skills Australia 02 82431200. If you would like to register for Workforce Futures please follow this link – Registrations
February 25, 2013 at 12:17 pm | General | No comment
Important Notice to all Operators – Be Careful
An improtant message from Tourism Victoria and Destination Melborune:
Tourism Victoria and Destination Melbourne would like to notify operators about a letter and invoice that is currently circulating in Victoria.
It has come to our attention that some Victorian tourism operators are receiving letters from victourism.com.au, together with an invoice asking for payment of a 12 month listing on a Vic Tourism site.
victourism.com.au and Vic Tourism are not related in any way to Tourism Victoria.The letter from Vic Tourism is not from Tourism Victoria nor does Tourism Victoria ever send Tax Invoices for visitvictoria.com listings by mail.
If you have any questions regarding the scam or have received a letter please contact the visitvictoria.com Support Desk on 1300 306 366 or via onlinecomments@tourism.vic.gov.au.
January 25, 2013 at 11:52 am | General | No comment
GIPPSLAND IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Please find below a message from Destination Gippsland:
Dear Tourism Colleague,
Fire activity has affected the areas near Aberfeldy and Glenmaggie and has resulted in closures to the southern section of the Alpine National Park and Avon Wilderness.
We are aware that this fire activity has the potential to impact tourism business. It is now an important time for us to work together to let potential visitors know that Gippsland is open for business, and to convey positive and factual messages about holidaying in our region.To read on how you can assit in conveying positive and factual messages please click here
January 25, 2013 at 11:37 am | General | No comment
ATAP Staff Changes
As many of you will have heard Service Skills Victoria, which has overseen ATAP for many years now, ceased all operations as of December 31st 2013. For ATAPs day to day operations, this has not had a great impact. We are still located in the same office – Level 2, 10-16 Queen Street Melbourne, and we continue to work with and accredit tourism businesses – in a sense its business as usual.
The closure of the SSV office has resulted in some staff changes. Ian Nicolson, who has been the CEO of ATAPs Victorian Office for over 5 years, has moved onto a new and exciting role as Head, Regional Development, Singapore for William Angliss Institute. He remains passionate about accreditation and will continue to participate in discussions at a national level on the future direction of accreditation. We are sure he will strive in his new role and we wish him all the best.
Following his departure, Erin McLeod has stepped up to the role of Executive Officer and Annika Hoffmann is now working full time as Accreditation Officer. We both look forward to working with you all over the next 12 months and beyond.
January 25, 2013 at 11:15 am | General | No comment
Smooth Operators – Print Marketing for T-QUAL and ATAP
On November 25th, 2012, ATAP teamed with T-QUAL to run 4 page print advertorial in the in Sunday Magazine, QWeekend and Sunday Times Magazine which are distributed in NSW, VIC, QLD and WA. The total circulation for these magazines were 1,672,889.
This was a great opportunity for ATAP to promote its accreditation message whilst promoting our ‘tick’. Various operators throughout the country, who have agreed to the T-QUAL sub licence with ATAP, were picked to participate with a listing.
So see a copy of the feature please click here
November 30, 2012 at 8:16 am | General | No comment
TQUAL Marketing Update
There have been some very exciting developments with the T-QUAL marketing over the past few months which has seen some very pleasing results within T-QUALs consumer marketing campaign. Key highlights including:
- Over 10,000 unique visitors to the T-QUAL micro site on TripAdvisor
- 2.8 million sponsored links displayed on Google
- Two print advertorials completed (published on 4 and 25 November)
- T-QUAL content included at over 11 industry events
To read the full report please open the Marketing Update for November 2012
Dont forget that if you want to be a part of the T-QUAL marketing opportunities you must ensure that you have agreed to the T-QUAL sub licence. This can be done when submitting your annual renewal, three yearly review or you can contact the office on (03) 9620 4199 for a copy.
November 30, 2012 at 8:00 am | General | No comment
Small-Scale Accommodation Survey
The Small-Scale Accommodation Survey (SSAS) is an initiative of RET’s Tourism 2020 which aims to maintain and promote a competitive tourism sector. The SSAS is managed by Tourism Research Australia (TRA) and has been developed by STR Global. Please see attached information on the SSAS.
As a tourism operator, are you looking for a better way to:
• Store and track your occupancy, room rates and revenue statistics?
• Monitor your monthly business performance?
• Compare your pricing, occupancy and revenue to similar properties in your region?
If YES, then you need the Small Scale Accommodation Survey (SSAS) for your business.
Whether you are a sole operator or manage a business as part of a chain or group, the SSAS is an easy way to help you keep an eye on profitability, recognise business opportunities and maximise returns. The SSAS is a free online business tool that lets you compare your establishment’s performance to similar properties. The SSAS will also provide useful data for you, government, industry bodies, and potential operators and investors to grow industry opportunities.
By participating in the SSAS you will get:
1. A confidential electronic report for your own property.
2. Access to charts and tables allowing you to compare your property to broader tourism region performance.
3. Targeted information on your establishment, your sector, and your region.
All you need to do is download the ‘Call to Action’ Excel workbook from the Tourism Research Australia (TRA) website to provide your establishment’s information:
www.ret.gov.au/tourism/research/tra/small-scale.
For more information about the Small-Scale Accommodation Survey contact TRA by email at tourism.research@ret.gov.au.
November 14, 2012 at 2:02 pm | General | No comment
Regional Development Fund Grants – Webinar
The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism’s (RET) Tourism Industry Regional Development Fund Grants (TIRF) team are running a one-hour webinar at 3pm AEST this coming Thursday, 15 November 2012 to provide some insights into the Application Process for regional tourism operators interested in the TIRF Grants Program. Grants and Funding:
The competitive merit-based TIRF Grants program offers grants from $50,000–$250,000 (GST exclusive) on a matched dollar-for-dollar funding basis.
A major focus of the program is to improve the quality of accommodation and attractions in regional areas.
Funding is also available for innovative projects to attract interstate and international visitors and extend their length of stay.
Note the Webinar will start at : 1500 (3pm) in NSW, VIC, ACT & TAS • 1430 (2.30pm) in SA • 1400 (2pm) in QLD • 1330 (1.30pm) in NT • 1200 (12noon) in WA.
At the start of the webinar you’ll be able to access a PowerPoint presentation on the web and dial in to a conference call to listen to Helen Cox, RET’s General Manager Tourism Programs, who will go through the presentation. There will be the opportunity for Q&A at the end, however, to be fair to all applicants, advice about specific projects cannot be provided. Please click here to register – . For more information on Thursday’s webinar please call the Tourism Grants Information Line on (02) 6243 7604 or email tirfgrants@ret.gov.au.
