DESTINATION NSW’s Jhappi Time campaign has found fans among Indians in Australia, who have been beckoning family and friends to visit New South Wales following its launch in February.
The campaign features a series of short Bollywood-style video ads that encourage relatives of Indians living in the state to visit for a jhappi, or hug in Hindi, with their loved ones in Sydney and NSW.
Given that the Indian diaspora is one of the fastest growing communities in Australia, and familial ties one of the main motivators for Indian tourists visiting Australia, the campaign aims to leverages these connections, said NSW’s CEO, Sandra Chipchase.
According to International Visitor Survey by Tourism Research Australia 2012-13, 40 per cent of tourists from India identified visiting friends and relatives as their main reason to visit Australia.
Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, Chipchase said: “The campaign has been officially released across all the Indian cities – we are on cinema, online and print.
“We can see that Indians in Australia are really responding well to this because our website can track that many of them are emailing and sending the links to their family and friends in India,” she said.
Chipchase said: “We have tied up with travel agencies (with presence in India) like Yatra, Easytogo and Kuoni Travel who would offer travel packages and destination advice, and now we are in the talks with a number more because it is important to extend the reach.”
The campaign offers tourists a variety of Jhappi Time Deals, which include visits to Hunter Valley, Blue Mountains and Sydney and the South Coast.
According to Chipchase, NSW welcomed over 77,000 visitors from India last year and with this campaign, the state is expecting a 10 per cent increase within the next 12 to 18 months.
She said: “Indians are among the top 10 international tourists for the state, among the top 10 for visitor nights and among the biggest spenders.”
Indian arrivals grew 4.8 per cent year-on-year in 1Q2013.
Air India also commenced daily flights to Sydney and Melbourne on August 29, 2013, connecting New Delhi with Australia after a 16-year hiatus (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 16, 2013).
