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A drunken night out with Danish backpackers, a meme about the southern hemisphere Christmas being sad, nausea after a seaplane ride: this is how the national tourism agency is trying to sell Australia as a holiday destination to Generation Z.<\/p>\n
Tourism Australia has spent a total of around $90,000 hosting three social media influencers this month: US-based performer Chris Olsen (who has 13.9 million followers across his TikTok and Instagram accounts), UK-based performer Maddie Grace Jepson (1.7 million followers), and UK-based trainspotter Francis Bourgeois (5.3 million followers).<\/p>\n
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Tourism Australia has spent a total of around $90,000 hosting three social media influencers this month.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Instagram<\/cite><\/p>\n The trio landed in Sydney for the TikTok Australia Awards, which Tourism Australia had no financial relationship with, on December 6, before holidaying in the city.<\/p>\n Jepson also travelled to the Gold Coast and northern NSW, posting a picture of herself on the beach in Byron Bay and a TikTok hanging out with drunk Danish tourists in a pub, before posting a meme to her Instagram story which likened a sparsely decorate, small fake Christmas tree to spending the season in Australia.<\/p>\n Tourism Australia spent roughly $30,000 on flights, accommodation and experiences for each influencer, who have posted varying levels of content during their stay.<\/p>\n Information provided by Tourism Australia said content from the creators\u2019 visit to Australia was still rolling out on their channels, describing the initial results as \u201cencouraging\u201d.<\/p>\n Chris Olsen, whose social media posts suggest he left Sydney for Singapore after a few days, has already posted eight times reaching an audience of 26.2 million, according to the agency.<\/p>\n Videos posted by Olsen included a vlog-style account of a \u201cspontaneous\u201d seaplane journey, where the influencer found himself grateful for dry land after a dizzying flight over Sydney Harbour, and another of his long-haul trip from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Bourgeois has posted the least of the group. The 23-year-old trainspotter, who went viral for his GoPro videos highlighting British rail stock in 2021, posted one video at Sydney\u2019s Central Station, taking a tour of the state\u2019s XPT regional trains, before travelling to Mount Victoria to watch the service on the tracks.<\/p>\n Transport for NSW also posted pictures of Bourgeois onboard the Sydney Metro.<\/p>\n According to Tourism Australia\u2019s annual report, 15,846 pieces of content were produced through its PR, media and influencer hosting activities in 2022-23, resulting in an equivalent advertising value of $689.3 5.8 million.<\/p>\n Dr Vicki Andonopoulos, an associate lecturer in marketing at the University of Sydney, said it was difficult to know if the campaign had been a success without knowing what Tourism Australia had set out to achieve.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of times people are mentioning tourism in Sydney, for example, that\u2019s gone up as a result for sure,\u201d she said, noting social media influencer campaigns like this helped to cut through \u201cgeneric\u201d influencer content to reach larger audiences.<\/p>\n \u201cAesthetic content has been done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n However, Andonopoulos said that while giving an agency \u2013 like Tourism Australia \u2013 complete control over what is posted by influencers can lead to inauthentic and less appealing content, the reins here may have been too loose.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all pretty left of field,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Dr Kaye Chan, director of UTS\u2019s digital marketing program, said the content was different to what someone typically thought of when imagining a Tourism Australia campaign, noting social media influencers were often an economical way to reach Generation Z.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge we face is getting our brands to some of those younger audiences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cTikTok videos and content that\u2019s synonymous with the brand of that person on TikTok has good reach, but often \u2018branded\u2019 content does not. With that age group, they don\u2019t want to see heavily branded, perfect content.\u201d<\/p>\n The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. <\/i><\/b>Sign up here<\/i><\/b>. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\nMost Viewed in National<\/h2>\n
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