Brisbane Airport and Brisbane Marketing join forces on new project to sell Brisbane to the world
Wednesday 30 January 2019: Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) and Brisbane Marketing (BM) have entered into a three year multi-million dollar partnership to boost recognition of Brand Brisbane to international audiences, further enhancing Brisbane’s position as an international gateway to Australia.
The partnership injects critical new funding from BAC, matched by BM, into a multi-faceted marketing program focusing on international aviation opportunity markets, in an effort to stimulate and drive preference for Brisbane as a leisure, education and business destination.
Target markets have been carefully selected through a detailed market and aviation data analysis, and will include the ASEAN region (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia), followed by North America, and India, with the possibility of new markets being introduced over time.
In the initial stages, the types of activity undertaken will include the establishment of international representative resources to market Brisbane, cooperative marketing campaigns with airline partners to drive sales, the introduction of new travel trade cooperative marketing activities, and in- language digital and social media content development to allow the city to promote itself effectively in new markets.
Gert-Jan de Graaff, BAC Chief Executive Officer, said the partnership and program will build on the great work done to date in increasing Brisbane’s reputation as a desirable international leisure tourism destination.
“This partnership and the commitment of significant additional funding by BAC and BM represents a significant turning point in the ability of Brisbane to market itself internationally.
“Over the past few years and for several more to come there has been significant infrastructure development and tourism product enhancement within the city of Brisbane, so the time is right to further enhance the international marketing capabilities of the city, in order to drive future passenger growth.
“It’s about securing additional aviation connectivity for the city by supporting existing aviation partners through further expansion or increases in frequency, as well as developing new international routes, establishing new airline services and building Brisbane as the nation’s gateway,” Mr de Graaff said.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said Brisbane continued to receive record numbers of international visitors and their spending in the city had reached an all-time high.
“The latest International Visitor Survey results revealed overseas visitors to Brisbane spent a record $2.7 billion over the year to September 2018, up a massive 20.5 per cent,” Cr Quirk said.
“The partnership between Brisbane Marketing and BAC will help ensure that this momentum keeps supporting small business and building a strong economy with more jobs across our accommodation, hospitality, service and retail sectors.”
Brett Fraser, Brisbane Marketing Chief Executive Officer, said the collaboration with BAC was part of a broader strategy to raise Brisbane’s profile in key markets and to drive visitation.
“By pooling our financial and intellectual resources and presenting a united front to achieve a common goal, we have the opportunity to grow Brisbane’s reputation as a leisure destination, drive up visitor numbers, attract more international students to study in the city and build stronger business relationships in priority markets.
“We can also increase overnight expenditure by enticing visitors who arrive through Brisbane Airport to stay longer,” Mr Fraser said.