With its borders open, Australia is projecting

Less than a month after re-opening its borders to international visitors, officially ending one of the toughest pandemic-related travel bans in the world, Tourism Australia has launched a new campaign welcoming Canadians back to the country.

Developed in partnership with Air Canada, the “Welcome Back” campaign saw the tourism body use nighttime projections of some of the country’s most recognizable symbols, including the Great Coral Reef and Uluru (Ayers Rock), in high traffic neighbourhoods in Toronto and Vancouver.

The projections were accompanied by the message “Welcome back Canada. Come and say g’day,” and a QR code for consumers to enter a draw to win two class business class flights. The campaign was developed in collaboration with the experiential digital agency Thinkingbox, with Citizen Relations for PR.

According to Tourism Australia data, Canada is the country’s 13th largest market for inbound travel, total visitor spend and visitor nights.

Aside from “Welcome Back,” Tourism Australia is also running a traditional media campaign to woo back tourists after two years (see the spot below). The A$40 million campaign “Don’t Go Small, Go Australia” is running in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and United States.

Chris Powell