The face of tourism has been changing; consumers are seeking experiences that offer an emotive connection rather than just a transaction experience. This is particularly evident with the younger generation. Tourists are now venturing off the beaten track to see more nature - based experiences that can be shared on social media. The trend is particularly evident when considering geologically rich places with interesting landscapes or rock formations. In the outback, we have a wide range of outstanding landscapes and sculptures to promote to this new breed of traveller. Our focus is to provide access and knowledge of our wonderful natural assets to a technologically savvy marketplace. OQTA’s 2020 vison is to highlight four key themes and hero experiences in the outback: Paleotourism, Outback Adventures, Heritage and Locals and Outback Events – promoting the natural gorges, lookouts, parks, scenic flights, Aboriginal rock art and drives. OQTA see the potential to join this vision, by creating and promoting self-drive itineraries with the focus on geotourism attractions. We see an opportunity to build self-drive itineraries that focus on the hero experiences .This will drive the consumer preference of finding these remarkable natural offerings and target markets that are time poor. There are many niche markets that are accessible and make marketing more value driven as well as targeting more engaged audiences. For example: Twitchers; Snailers; agri-tourists; wildlife lovers; cultural and heritage to name a few. This is what will drive tourism in to the future and fits so well with Geotourism.

1. OQTA
Geotourism and Self Drive
Live Australia’s Story

2. Live Australia’s
story
Go on, get out there and live.
Make a connection you’ll feel
deep in your heart and soul. Let
it get under your skin, hit you in
the guts and knock your dusty
socks off.
Come on, get to know this
place, this very big place, and
you’ll know what Australia is all
about. You might just learn a
few things about yourself, too.
Outback Queensland has so
many stories to tell and share
about the history of our country,
the spirit of our nation and what
it means to be Australian.
So come on, get out there and
live them all. Live Australia’s
story in Outback Queensland.
And you know what, the best
stories are yet to be written, told
and remembered forever.
OUR BRAND
POSITION

3. OUR OPPORTUNITY
Research tells us we are a desired destination (even
more desired than our beachy counterparts)
A visit to Outback Queensland is seen as a birthright
For Australians, visiting the Outback is seen as
experiencing their culture
1.
2.
3.
So, our visitors have a reason to come —
it’s marketing’s job to make them come today not
“one-day.”

4. OUR CHALLENGE
More complex challenges aside (accessibility,
price,
product development) — we have a few easy
fixes:We’re confused by who our audience is
Our budgets are finite and need to be spent strategically, not
sporadically
1.
2.
We have many (MANY) stakeholders who sometimes work
against each other rather than together
3.

5. OUR SOLUTION:
Get clear on our target
audience so our messages
don’t get lost in the market.
1.
Ensure a consistent message
is told OQTA, region, council
and every operator.
2.

6. “Everyone is not your customer.”
Seth Godin

7. Holiday visitors to the
Outback make up
LESS THAN 40%
of all visitors
Business visitors are
the
big one and make
up
MORE THAN 40%
of all visitorsFrom a marketing perspective, our focus remains on
growing the holiday market, in particular:
1. Intrastate visitors 2. Interstate visitors
NOTE: OQTA ONLY MARKETS TO HOLIDAY VISITORS
CAVEAT: All Outback tourism data uses three year averages to increase data integrity.
The information provided is not absolute and the impact of outliers should always be
considered.
SO, WHO VISITS THE
OUTBACK?

8. Intrastate Interstate
Length of
Stay
More than 60% of intrastate
visitors stay for 3 nights or less.
Think: weekends.
Almost 5% of interstate holiday visitors
stay in the Outback for 4 nights or more.
Type of
Stay
Just on 60% of all intrastate
holiday visitors make only one stop
when holidaying in the Outback.
70% make only one or two stops.
Almost 50% of all interstate holiday
visitors make 4 or more stops when
travelling in the Outback. 18% will take
8 or more stops.
Age 60% of all intrastate visitors are
under 60 years of age.
Almost 70% of interstate holiday visitors
are 50 years of age or more. Think:
caravans.
Segment Older families
SINKS/DINKS
Empty Nester
How we
should talk
to them
We should be delivering:
 48 hour guides
 A weekend in …
 Event guides
 Boys trips/girls trips
 School holiday content
We should be delivering:
 X places to pull up your caravan
 Your ultimate road trip itinerary
 How to see every major town in the
Outback in 14 days.

9. SCORE 4 or 5
These are strategic segments and will
form the basis of most marketing
activity. These segments have the
highest potential for results and yield,
and should be the focus of the current
strategy.
SINKS/DINK
S
Young
Families
Older
Families
Empty
Nesters
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
Weekend Getaway
1–3 nights
4 5 1 2 2 5 2 1 5 2
Short Breaks
4–7nights
4 5 4 3 4 3 4 5 5 5 5
Real Holiday
8–14 nights
2 1 1 4 5 5 4
Travel
15+ nights
1 4 1
MARKET
SEGMENTS

10. LETS DIVE INTO
INTRASTATE TRENDS
Over the last five years, the Outback has grown this market
faster than the Queensland state and national average
Research suggests the rapid growth of the last five years
may have peaked.
Intrastate has always been the strongest market for the
Outback
1.
2.
3.
EY TAKE OUT: Slowing growth in visitors and nights over next 12-24 months. We need t
ignite growth.

11. LETS DIVE INTO
INTERSTATE TRENDS
The Outback has outperformed both the state and national
growth rates over the last five years in this market.
Importantly, the entire State had 2.5 million fewer Interstate
Holiday visitor nights than it did ten years ago.
Queensland as a whole has dropped off in this market.
1.
2.
3.
Y TAKE OUT: Slowing growth in visitors and possible negative growth in nights in next 12
months.

12. LETS DIVE INTO
INTERNATIONAL TRENDS
This isn’t in isolation though - Queensland as a whole had fewer
Western Holiday visitors in 2017 than it did ten years ago.
We are not attracting the Western markets we used to. Importantly,
Western Markets make up virtually all the international visitors to the
Outback
Over the past 10 years, the Outback has seen its International
Holiday visitor numbers decline
1.
2.
3.
KEY TAKE OUT: Continuing decline in visitors and nights with the potential for long-term
market damage.

13. Harry & Alice: Empty Nesters
Harry and Alice love to travel. As they have travelled
around the country in their caravan, they’ve seen some
beautiful country and made some really great friends.
They’ve been to the Outback four or five times now and
it gets better every time. Just lately though, they’ve
realised that they’re not getting any younger with Alice
not being well and Harry struggling a little with the
caravan and all. Now they’re not going away for as long
as they used too, or travelling as far as they’d like. Still,
they have really enjoyed their travels and have some
great memories.
It was always about the journey, the people and the
experience. Pulling up by the side the road somewhere
near Whoop Whoop, having a cup of tea and just
seeing who stopped for a chat. Maybe they’d spend the
afternoon in the caravan park just chatting and
comparing notes with other “grey nomads” – not that
they liked the term. It was a simple way to travel and
wasn’t too expensive – they have to watch their
pennies. Fuel and the car were the big costs. They
could always grab some fresh fruit and vege from a
local stall and even some of those great farm fresh
eggs and enjoy a lovely meal around a campfire with
new mates. Every now and then they might splurge and
have a countery at the local pub or even a nice
restaurant in the nearby motel.
Maybe one more little trip next
year…

14. Harry & Alice: Empty Nesters
Grey Nomads
 Numerous stopovers and
long length of stay in the
Outback,
so long drives.
 Much higher proportion of
interstate visitors.
 It’s about the journey and
meeting people
 Low yield due to low use of
accommodation and lower
use of attractions etc.
 The pace of decline in this
market will increase in next
3-5 years.

15. The Boys, The Girls = LINKS
The Boys
They love the bush. It’s been their home all their
lives —it’s where they went to school, played
footy and had the best times. It’s getting harder
now though — finding work and all. Even the
good times can be hard to find as there is never
a lot on. Mostly they need to jump in the car and
head off for a few hours down the road to a
nearby town to find a new band playing, or
cruise over to a party where they can crash on
the floor. Every now and then there might even
be a festival of some kind or even a rodeo that’s
only 3–4 hours drive — not far in the bush!
The Girls
It’s not the city — but you can pretend! There’s
not a lot to do so they make their own fun.
Maybe just catching up with the rest of the girls
for a chat over a wine, or maybe head off to a
party a few hours away where you know the
boys will be and maybe a decent band. There’s
a new restaurant in town and it has great food.

16. The Boys, The Girls = LINKS
LINKS
(Locals with Income and No
Kids
= SINKs + DINKs)
 Essentially intrastate visitors; 400–
500km radius.
 It’s about the destination and doing
something ‘different’; adding a little
excitement.
 Lower yield due to low use of
accommodation or lower end
accommodation plus lower use of
attractions, etc.
 Higher yield through consumption of food
and beverage.
 Volatile market as requires ‘different’
experience drawcard and will be
impacted over time by decline in
numbers of young people migrating from
rural regions nationally.
 Only one stopover normally and short
stays (1-2/3 nights) normally within 3–4
hour drive.

17. The Hart Family: Older Families
Their little babies are nearly grown up. Not long
to go now! They went to Europe last year for a
family holiday and had a great time. So much to
see and do! This time it’s different. It may be the
last holiday as the “family” unit so it has to be
special. Something they can remember forever.
It would be nice to avoid the hustle and bustle of
the city (like Europe!) so they can focus on each
other and discover new things about themselves
and the world. Maybe get in touch with what it
means to be Australian — maybe the outback.
It will need ten days at least — maybe a
fortnight. It would have to be planned out
carefully as nobody wants to get lost. There’s a
bit of driving so the route has to be thought
through so they can cover the best things and
break up the journey. The planning would be
part of the fun and adventure.
We may only do it once so
we want to do it right!

18. The Hart Family: Older Families
 There are more interstate holiday
visitors in this group than intrastate.
 Looking for transformation
experiences.
 It’s about the adventure and
discovery of ALL the Outback: their
perspective. Only ONE experience
— the “Outback”!
 Higher household income/disposable
income.
 Higher yield as use higher end
accommodation; keen on tours and
activities that educate and inform;
like to eat out and enjoy dining.
 Strong latent potential as missing
connection to right information —
Outback doesn’t scare them, they
just don’t know what brand story and
how.
 Multiple stopovers with short stays:
however accept the notion of a 10–
14 day travel and that they may need
to go back again another day.
Empty Nesters & Older
Families

19. WHAT’S NEXT FOR OQTA
We need to get online with a bookable website
We need to lead a digital marketing strategy that affords
greater transparency and can be more targeted
2.
3.
Together, we’ll drive greater conversion
We need to respond to this new audience research through
increased marketing efforts
1.

20. HOW WE’LL DO IT
GROW OUR OWN PLATFORMS. We’re already our own
Outback Newswire through Facebook and The Blog. We’ll
grow these audiences so we talk to more people through
these channels.
Target only our CORE AUDIENCES through marketing
efforts
Ensure all marketing efforts are tied to one of our CONTENT
PILLARS.
1.
2.
3.

21. OQTA is currently growing:
 Facebook
 Instagram
 Twitter
 YouTube
 Email Database (consumer/media/trade)
 Website visits (including time spent on site)
1. Grow our own platforms

22. V
VISION: Enable visitors to write their own
Outback Story
BY BUILDING THEIR OWN ADVENTURE USING OUR CONTENT PILLARS
WHICH ARE UNDERPINNED BY EXPERIENCES
PILLARS 1. ROADTRIPS 2. OUTBACK
EVENTS
3. AUSTRALIAN
CULTURE
4. INTO THE
WILD
5. ADVENTURE
EXPERIENCES BLUE SKIES SWAGS INDIGENOUS VAST
LANDSCAPES
BRAGABILITY/
CHALLENGE
SUNRISE/SUNSET
S
COWBOYS/GIRLS HISTORY &
HERITAGE
NATIONAL
PARKS
DINOSAURS
‘NOT IN THE
CITY ANYMORE’
MOMENTS
CHANCE TO BE
A LOCAL FOR A
WEEKEND
CHARACTERS WILDLIFE WEATHER
EVENTS
ROUTES AS
FAMOUS AS
‘ROUTE 66’
WEIRED AND
WACKY
FOOD STATIONS FISHING
ICONIC
MOMENTS
RACING COUNTRY PUBS STARS 4WDING
AS TOLD THROUGH OUR DESTINATION/S — OUTBACK QUEENSLAND
2. We market under these content pillars

23.  Consumers arenow seeking experiences that offer an emotive connection rather than just a
transaction experience
 Travellers areno longer satisfied with superficial tourist activities andinstead arein search of
a more in-depth experience ofa destination
 Geotourism is tourism that enhances the geographical character ofa place - its environment,
culture, aesthetics, heritage, andthe well-being of residents
Geotourism

24.  Authenticityan increasingvalued commodityintourism,agrowingnumberoftouristsseektoimmerse
themselvesinlocalenvironmentsorasmanytermit
‘livelikea local’,whichOutbackQueenslandtownshaveaimedtoembrace
 Geotourismhasgreatpotential like nichemarketstobe ahighvaluetourismactivity
 Geotourismisabout deliveringhighquality localexperienceswhichencouragereturnvisitationand
attractnewcustomersthroughwordofmouth
 By showinglocalexperiences,visitorsbringthisnewknowledge home withthem; tellingstoriesthat
promptrelativesandfriendsto visittoget that qualitymemorableexperience
Geotourism

25. 3. Talk to our core audiences
SCORE 4 or 5
These are strategic segments and
will form the basis of most
marketing activity. These
segments have the highest
potential for results and yield, and
should be the focus of the current
strategy.
SINKS/DIN
KS
Young
Families
Older
Families
Empty
Nesters
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
In-market
Intrastate
Interstate
Weekend Getaway
1–3 nights 4 5 1 2 2 5 2 1 5 2
Short Breaks
4–7nights 4 5 4 3 4 3 4 5 5 5 5
Real Holiday
8–14 nights 2 1 1 4 5 5 4
Travel
15+ nights 1 4 1
Anyone who scored a 4 or a 5

26. “Marketing without data is like
driving with your eyes closed.”
Dan Zarella

27. Our digital strategy will respond to these
audiences
That’s why we’re changing our marketing to be data-driven and
digital-only.
Our audiences are now large enough to conduct audits with
stability and confidence.
So:
IfyouliveinAdelaide– you shouldreceivemarketingmaterials
androadtripideasthatstartandstopinAdelaide.
Ifyou’veconsideredan Outbackholiday,remindersshouldfollowyouaroundtheinternetuntilyou book.
Ifyoucampfrequently,weshouldn’tbesendingyouinformationaboutmotels,
weshould besendingyouinformationaboutcampsites.
We have the data. We know who they are. We can be
more targeted.

28. Content
marketing
produces
brand recall
= ACTION
HOW IT WORKS

29. Peter Homan
GM
Outback Queensland Tourism Association
M: 0438 394 492
E: gm@outbackqueensland.com.au
QUESTIO