All that glitters is gold! Marketing campaign to bring premium travellers to Gold Coast

Sydney | Published on 3rd October 2012 at 2:04

Qantas and Gold Coast Tourism will undertake a joint marketing campaign to attract more business and premium leisure travellers to the Gold Coast.

The campaign, to be supported by Gold Coast Airport, will focus on high-yielding visitors and launch in February 2013.

The new campaign comes as Qantas prepares to restart direct flights between Sydney and the Gold Coast on 28 October 2012.

Qantas Domestic Chief Executive Officer Lyell Strambi told key tourism and corporate travellers at a function on the Gold Coast today that the airline will help attract more high-yielding visitors to the region.

“The response to the news Qantas is returning to the Gold Coast has been fantastic,” Mr Strambi said.

“Qantas sold an unprecedented 24,000 airfares in 48 hours for its launch announcement sale.

“What has been really encouraging are the forward bookings over coming months. It proves our case that there is untapped demand from high-end corporate and business travellers and Qantas is delighted to be bringing its premium flying experience back to the Gold Coast.

“We will work closely with Gold Coast Tourism on this campaign and are already in discussions about other marketing opportunities for the region.”

Mr Strambi said Qantas would reward the loyalty of its Qantas Frequent Flyer members by reinstating their status to the tier they had when Qantas ceased services from the Gold Coast in 2008, due to a lack of demand
for premium travel at that time.

“Qantas is contacting more than 2,000 Gold Coast based Frequent Flyer members to increase their status to what it was, and the feedback so far is that they cannot wait for Qantas flights to resume.”

Gold Coast based travellers will also benefit from the recently announced partnership between Qantas and Emirates. Subject to regulatory approval, the partnership is expected to boost inbound tourism with Emirates flights feeding directly in to the Qantas domestic network, including its direct Sydney-Gold Coast flights.

This combines with flows from the new Jetstar Japan domestic network, making it easier for Japanese travellers to connect with Jetstar’s international flights between Tokyo, Osaka and the Gold Coast.

Work on the Gold Coast Qantas Club will start within weeks and is on track to be completed within a few months.

Qantas will fly three-daily return services between Sydney-Gold Coast from 28 October 2012.