'Rally Cry' for Regional Australia to share stories of their local food and wine experiences

Tourism Australia has issued a ‘Rally Cry’ for businesses and industry in regional areas to share the stories behind their food and wine experience as part of a new campaign push to put Australia at the top of the menu for international visitors.

The latest evolution of the Federal Government tourism agency’s global campaign, There’s nothing like Australia, aims to tap in to the growing demand globally for food and wine experience as part of the travel experience, and is based on the idea of Australia being the world’s greatest restaurant experience, 'Restaurant Australia'.

The industry is now being urged to share stories of their food, wine or beverage experience at the campaign’s online hub, www.australia.com/restaurantaustralia. By submitting stories, businesses, operators or people directly involved in Australia’s food and wine industries can be listed on the website, which will be unveiled on 7th May along with new broadcast, print and online content.

Tourism Australia Chief Marketing Officer Nick Baker said the agency wanted to rally Australia’s incredible food and wine industries to get involved so that international visitors might be further inspired to come and indulge themselves in our incredible food and wine offering.

Baker explained “Restaurant Australia is all about bringing together passionate locals, breathtaking landscapes and the freshest of produce to demonstrate to the world what makes Australia’s food and wine experiences so unique and distinctive.

“Our regions have an abundance of incredible stories to share where quite literally, every second of every day, unique and brilliant food and wine experiences are being served-up in remarkable and awe-inspiring locations.

“That’s why we’re asking the entire industry to get behind the campaign in promoting their own experiences and joining in the online conversation for the rest of the world to see and hear what they could be enjoying by holidaying in Australia.”

By completing the online form on www.australia.com/restaurantaustralia the people behind Australia’s world-class food and wine experiences will automatically be listed on the website as a contributor to ‘Restaurant Australia’ with a link back to their product website.

In addition, they will also have the chance to have their story or product profiled in a feature article on www.australia.com/restaurantaustralia and potentially to be included in the international media familiarisations hosted for ‘Restaurant Australia’.

As a guide the kinds of experiences that will be highlighted throughout this campaign drive will be around Australia’s seafood, restaurants, produce, people, food events, food trails and its wine story.

Another way to get involved is by participating in the conversation by using #restaurantaustralia in social media communications, giving products or experiences the opportunity to be amplified through Tourism Australia’s social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).

Baker said the latest evolution of the agency’s global campaign had been developed based on research conducted by Tourism Australia in 15 of Australia’s key tourism markets in 2013, which identified ‘food and wine’ as a key factor in holiday decision making and the most important emotive trigger, closely followed by world class beauty.

The research also identified a significant gap in the perceptions of Australia’s food and wine offering – with people who have visited rating it highly compared to those who have not. For people who have never visited Australia only 26% associate the destination with a good food and wine offering. However, for those who have visited Australia ranks second in the world for its food and wine experiences (60%) after culinary giant France and ahead of Italy.

The purpose of the new campaign focus is to narrow the perception gap by ‘dialling-up’ the depth of Australia’s food and wine experiences. Tourism Australia has been working closely with Australia’s state and territory tourism offices and its marketing partner, Wine Australia, to develop the new campaign elements around food and wine.

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