Tourism Australia is urging the trade to get involved in its latest global promotional campaign, There’s nothing like Australia.

The focus of the campaign is  an online interactive map of Australia, featuring almost 3,000 personal holiday stories and images submitted by Australians, which emphasise  aspects of their country they feel are unique.

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said users of Nothinglikeaustralia.com will be able to search its content by experience, destination or more than 1,000 search terms, and use the information to help plan their travels. 

Speaking at the Australia Tourism Exchange in Adelaide,  McEvoy emphasised  the importance of the trade in making the campaign a success. “Agents add a huge amount of utility to anything we do,” said McEvoy, adding that the sign of the campaign’s success would be the number of partners who supported it.

Tourism Australia has produced  advertising material for operators to download for their own Australia campaigns, along with widgets that will enable information from the Nothinglikeaustralia.com to sit on partner’s websites.

The website also includes product information and pricing for tours as well as contact details for Australia specialists. The site will also be integrated into Tourism Australia’s dedicated trade website.

McEvoy said the campaign had been “built to last”, rather than as a one-off initiative. He said Tourism Australia had conducted significant research to ensure the campaign took a “back-to-basics simplicity that translates around the world”. The website has been translated into 15 languages.

Qantas group executive commercial Rob Gurney said he believed the impact of the campaign on demand for flights to Australia would be “very positive”. He added: “The campaign is fresh, well executed, it’s got a great blend of people, personalities and places, and it showcases what Australia is all about. I think it has wide appeal and will translate well.”

The campaign will adopt other digital, print and broadcast media to spread the message; 12 print adverts focus on 12 different stories about 12 different locations.