Joint tourism initiative launched between AlburyCity and Wodonga Council

A joint tourism initiative between AlburyCity and Wodonga Council - Visit Albury Wodonga - has launched its 2023-2024 Visit Albury Wodonga Tourism Partner Program.

The program offers local businesses and organisations the opportunity to take advantage of targeting marketing campaigns promoting the region to prospective travellers across the country, industry workshops and training, networking opportunities, industry conferences and events, and more.

It’s open to all businesses from sole operator serving up great coffee, a 140-room accommodation property, a conference and event venue, or a local council or regional tourism organisation.

There are five tiers available, from an Introductory tier at no cost for partners who are trying out the program for the first time, to tiers for small operators or sole traders who want access to benefits on a smaller scale, to higher levels those looking for wider representation and exposure.

Some of the key benefits that are available to members include:

• Inclusion in destination marketing campaigns that drive visitation to the Albury Wodonga region and partner businesses

• Promotion on digital channels and through the Visitor Information Centre

• Participation in industry-led training and development sessions

• Opportunity for inclusion in media, journalist, and business event familiarisations

• Access to industry insights and qualified data to help inform business activities

• Social media and online marketing support

• Monthly email newsletters including grant and funding opportunities, industry alerts and a monthly update of major events in our region to assist with planning

• Engage with up to 1.25 million potential customers a month with an Australian Tourism Data Warehouse online listing

• Business listing in 20,000 freely distributed city maps

• Access to select tourism images for marketing and promotional purposes

Albury City Mayor Kylie King said the program delivered some exciting results in 2022-2023 through targeted marketing opportunities.

Mayor King advised “last year the program directly promoted 126 partner businesses as part of destination marketing activities, executed the high-profile Four Seasons marketing campaign promoting the region nationally, drove 330,000 people to search for Albury Wodonga online through targeted marketing activity, and worked with Destination NSW and Visit Victoria to feature Albury Wodonga in state-based marketing campaigns.”

Wodonga Mayor Ron Mildren said the networking and event opportunities are a huge advantage for local businesses and added “there were five industry workshops last year which provided training and networking opportunities, where our partners could gain inspiration from their peers to take back to their business operations. We also exhibited at the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event to promote our region to business event planners, opening up the doors to further tourism opportunities.”

Mark and Deb Davis from Level One Restaurant and Wine Bar said many of the tourists that visit their venue have found them through marketing support from Visit Albury Wodonga. They shared “the opportunity to be a tourism partner with Visit Albury Wodonga has been not only rewarding for our business, but has helped us to meet so many other business operators and form great friendships.

“The team at Visit Albury Wodonga have been so helpful and supportive over the past three years that we have owned Level One. They are all passionate about our region and about helping local businesses succeed. We urge all local business owners to strongly consider being involved in the Tourism Partner Program.”

The program runs from 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024.

Businesses can join at any time, however to be included in printed materials available to some tiers, participation will need to be confirmed by Sunday 7th May 2023.

Find out more on the Visit Albury Wodonga website.

Image. Visit Albury Wodonga tourism initiative Credit: Albury City