Mr Huang’s re-appointment as Global Tourism Ambassador for South Australia comes off the back of a successful campaign in China which has seen significant increases in bookings and website visits to China Southern Airlines and key travel agent partners.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, David Ridgway said China is South Australia’s top international market, with the state welcoming 66,000 visits, contributing $391 million to the visitor economy as of March 2019.
“We are delighted to have Mr Huang on board for another year. With a social media following of more than 61 million, Mr Huang’s influence is clear across all markets where there are Chinese audiences,” Minister Ridgway said.
“This makes him a powerful drawcard to highlight South Australia’s world-class tourism offerings to not just the Chinese market, but further afield.”
The success of Mr Huang as South Australia’s Global Tourism Ambassador can be seen in the results achieved by the campaign that ran in China from February 2018 to January 2019.
- 931% increase in landing page views on Ctrip.com (China’s largest online travel agent);
- 357% increase in leads to China Southern Airlines;
- 334% increase in bookings with key travel agent partner- GZL Travel;
- 49% increase in bookings with key online travel agent partner Ctrip; and
- 37% combined increase in bookings across eight key trade partners.
Speaking about Mr Huang’s re-appointment, Rodney Harrex, Chief Executive of the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) said Mr Huang provides much needed cut-through in a crowded market such as China.
“Mr Huang is a trusted voice in China and he clearly engages and inspires Chinese visitors to book a holiday to Adelaide and South Australia, which can be seen by our record 66,000 visits from the Chinese market,” Mr Harrex said.
“Since December 2016 we’ve had direct flights to Adelaide from mainland China with China Southern Airlines and it’s great to see this airline has seen a spike in leads due to our campaign featuring Mr Huang.
“This new agreement will see the SATC continue to use the creative imagery and video assets featuring Mr Huang in South Australia that were captured in late 2017 when he was first appointed as our Global Tourism Ambassador.”
“We will use these creative assets across our marketing activities to promote our state as a world-class holiday destination, not only in China but to Chinese audiences living in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and the USA.”
Mr. Huang will promote South Australia under this new agreement and encourage his social media followers to visit South Australia on their next overseas holiday in September.
