Western Australia is embarking on a new tourism strategy, positioning itself as ‘The Road Trip State.’
It was revealed by state tourism minister Paul Papalia with plans for a wide-ranging campaign across Australia and internationally.
For the first time the state is embracing its huge geographical area and turning that into a positive feature for adventurous travellers with time on their hands.
"What (the campaign does) is takes what might have been perceived as our greatest weakness – that is that we are a third of the continent, massive open spaces, small population spread a long way apart – and we turned that into a real strength, so we’re going to market that as a real positive," Papalia said.
A range of road trip itineraries will be promoted, from short journeys to long trips covering all regions in the state.
"It’s attractive to retirees who have a bit of time on their hands, and also – a very important part of the market – those younger ones, those backpackers that we’ve had trouble with in recent times, so we’re looking to use this as a big boost to get people into the state and out to the regions," he added.
Western Australia’s natural beauty will underscore the campaign, highlighting attractions such as Lucky Bay in Esperance, the Wilyabrup Cliffs in Margaret River and Cable Beach in Broome.
The WA government will partner will car rental firms to offer promotional one-way fly-drive options to begin a road trip on arrival in Perth and allow travellers to drop off their vehicle at their final destination within the state.
As well as promoting WA road trips across Australia, the new ad campaign will be aired in the key markets of Singapore, Malaysia, China, Germany, the U.K, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Indonesia.
The ad campaign will have an initial run of eight months but will likely be extended if it proves successful.
