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Our Marketing Approach
Gold Coast Tourism’s focused and strategic approach to marketing the Gold Coast as a holiday and business events destination ensures we achieve maximum value from our investments of time, resources and budget.
In our largest market, Australia, we balance independent and cooperative activity depending on season, sector and circumstance. Our cooperative activity includes regular campaigns with Gold Coast Tourism member businesses, Surfers Paradise Alliance, Broadbeach Alliance, Connecting Southern Gold Coast, Gold Coast Airport, Tourism Queensland, travel retailers and airlines.
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Internationally, we leverage our cooperative partnerships even further to enhance our spend and gain greater reach. Our chief international marketing partners are Tourism Queensland, Tourism Australia and international airlines.
The primary markets in which we are most active are judged on six key criteria. They are:
• Current visitor volume or expenditure to Gold Coast • Forecast outbound visitor volume or expenditure • Current or probable aviation access into Gold Coast or Brisbane airports • Priority regions identified by Tourism Queensland and Tourism Australia • Fit with psychographic profile Gold Coast holiday segmentation: Social Fun Seeker, Connector, Experience Seeker
Internationally, we leverage our cooperative partnerships even further to enhance our spend and gain greater reach.
Gold Coast Tourism operates to promote the destination image and attract leisure and business event visitors to the city. This is executed through five main categories of activity. They are: • Marketing Campaigns and Promotions • Public Relations • Trade and Consumer Shows • Sales Calls • Media and Trade Familiarisations
Marketing activity direct to consumers primarily consists of traditional above-the-line advertising media promoting holiday experiences, packages and airfares to the Gold Coast throughout peak and off-peak periods. Promotions and public relations work is generally organised to complement the marketing campaigns through below-the-line channels such as events, social media and publicity.
Trade and consumer shows enable us to update and educate the travel wholesalers, inbound tourism operators, professional conference organisers and travel agent networks which are crucial influencers of travel to the Gold Coast.
It is also important to visit the markets to conduct sales calls and talk first hand with consumers, travel agents, wholesalers, airlines and representatives of Tourism Queensland and Tourism Australia. Tourism marketing is a business built on relationships and it is necessary to meet face to face several times throughout the year to ensure the destination remains relevant and understood. This is especially important in the Business Events arena where professional conference organisers recommend the Gold Coast to their clients for conference and incentive events.
Bringing targeted media or trade representatives to experience the destination first hand has proven to be one of the most effective ways to gain exposure or advocacy for the city within a highly competitive environment. Throughout the year we will host hundreds of media and trade contacts whose personal experience goes on to positively influence millions of their audience or clients.
