Tourism Australia
unveiled “Restaurant Australia” the newest phase of the global “There’s nothing
like Australia” campaign, at
the Australian Tourism Exchange in Cairns
in May 2014 . The new focus on exceptional food and wine experiences in
extraordinary locations around the country aims to establish Australia as a global
gastronomic destination. The new A$10 million (R100m) campaign - through
television, online and print, a dedicated hub (www.australia.com/restaurantaustralia),
digital channels, advocacy and social media - taps into growing global demand by
international tourists for food and wine
as an essential part of the travel experience.
John O’Sullivan, the new MD of Tourism
Australia, says the campaign is being rolled out in stages, starting firstly
with a “rally cry” to engage Australian food and wine operators as partners ahead
of a new global ad campaign based on special food and wine “chapters” filmed at
top food and winery locations throughout Australia. Restaurant Australia will culminate
in a spectacular “Invite the World to Dinner” event at Moorilla Winery in Tasmania in November
2014. He comments, “Restaurant Australia is all about bringing together the
incredible stories of our people, place and produce to demonstrate to the world
that unique and exceptional food and wine experiences are served-up every day in
remarkable locations in Australia”.
According to a 2013 consumer survey by
Tourism Australia conducted in fifteen of Australia’s key markets, food, wine and
local cuisine is one of the key factors (ranked 38% by respondents) influencing
which destinations people select to take a holiday (ranked ahead of 37% for
beauty and natural environments). The research also identified a significant
gap in the perceptions of Australia’s
food and wine offering – with people who have visited rating it highly compared
to those who have not.
Only 26% of international travellers who
have NOT visited Australia
associated the destination with great food and wine - whereas 60% of tourists
who HAD visited Australia
ranked it second in the world for great food and wine experiences after France - and ahead of Italy. Restaurant Australia plans to
close the perceptual gap by showcasing the total experience of dining in Australia in spectacular
landscapes not only at fine dining establishments but in cafes, bistros and out
in the bush. Over 700 enthusiastic farmers, growers, artisanal providores,
paddock to plate experiences, catch ‘ n cook, chefs, food and wine routes, have
already highlighted their stories of the best food and wine experiences at www.australia.com/restaurantaustralia.
International visitors spent more than A$4
billion (R40 billion) on food, wine and culinary experiences in Australia in 2013.
Tourism Australia is working
closely with Australia’s
eight state and territory tourism offices, Wine Australia and Restaurant and
Catering Australia on the Restaurant Australia campaign - and has enlisted
the culinary expertise and story-telling skills of some of the country’s most
famous chefs to give international food lovers a taste for a holiday down under.
Peter Gago, head winemaker of Penfolds, and legendary Australian chefs such as Neil
Perry and Peter Gilmore are actively involved on the advisory board of
Restaurant Australia.
Chef Peter
Gilmore of Quay comments, “We have an incredible food and wine culture and
really we do need to shout about it a bit. It’s lovely that it’s combined with
the environment that we live in, the whole feeling of our culture and our
outdoor life, and how that's combined with food and wine experiences is really
good to show off.”
At the launch, Nick Baker, chief marketing officer of Tourism Australia, emphasised the strong link between Australia’s natural landscape and cuisine. He comments “Food and wine has the potential to take tourism to new heights. How do we define modern Australian cuisine? There’s no single grape, dish or ingredient.” Australia’s rich ethnic diversity has produced one of the most exciting and multicultural cuisines in the world, with chefs, winemakers and producers who revel in the creativity of a modern food and wine culture not bound by centuries of tradition. One of the goals of the campaign is “to promote the world’s largest conversation on food and wine” (on www.australia.com, the world’s largest
facebook destination with 8.5 million users).
Baker comments, “The concept of ‘Restaurant Australia’ is based on consumer
research which identified ‘food and wine’ as a key factor in holiday decision
making and the most important emotive trigger, ahead of world class beauty, for
influencing people's destination choice. For people who’ve never visited Australia awareness
of our food and wine offering is low. However, once they visit, people realise
the variety and quality of our food and wine experiences is world-class and Australia moves
to the top of the rankings as a one of the world’s best culinary destinations.”
To match the focus on people, produce and
places in the new restaurant Australia campaign, ATE14 had a strong food and
wine flavour this year. At the launch chef Craig Squire of Ochre in Cairns served tasting tropical
platters of barramundi steamed in banana leaf, scallops, lobster and local beef.
At gala dinners on the waterfront at Cairns,
delegates tasted the fresh flavours of Tropical North Queensland (TNQ) - from
barramundi (the signature local fish), gulf bugs (flathead lobster), reef fish
and spanner crab to crocodile wontons, smoked emu and “bush tucker”. At a
reception hosted by the Champions of Indigenous Tourism, top chef Mark “the
Black” Olive cooked up bush damper (bread), croc kebabs and barramundi with
bush tomato relish.
The fare was paired with craft beers and wines
served at pop-up tasting stalls by members of the Ultimate Winery Experiences
of Australia - a new A-list association of fourteen wineries. The goal of both
campaigns is to link food and wine to the unique sense of place of the natural
landscape of Australia.
It’s about more than what’s in the glass or what’s on the plate - it’s about
the whole experience. Many of Australia’s leading tourist regions are already
building their brands around food and wine attractions - from Adelaide’s Taste
Australia festival and Wine Barossa’s new “Be consumed” campaign to “the catch
‘n cook seafood” of Tasmania, “seafood frontier” of South Australia, “million
star” outback cuisine of the Northern Territory, poacher’s dinners of Canberra and
the “Great Gourmet Escape” in Margaret River.
A handful of the world’s top chefs are
already setting up shop in Restaurant Australia. Heston Blumenthal - whose top
London restaurant called Dinner is rated #5 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2014 - is closing The Fat Duck in
Bray (rated # 47) for renovations, and relocating it all to Crown Melbourne for
six months this year, where it will evolve into a new Dinner restaurant. He
follows in the footsteps of Jamie Oliver who is opening Jamie’s Italian in five
cities - and Momofuku Seiobo of New
York.
The annual Australian Tourism Exchange I attended is the largest travel trade show of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It was the first time in its 35 year history this year that ATE was held in a regional tourist destination and not in a state capital city such as Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Perth. ATE14 took place right on the doorstep of one of Australia’s premium tourist destinations. Cairns is the gateway to where two renowned Unesco world heritage sites meet - the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics. Over 600 delegates from 38 countries as well as 70 media from around the world attended ATE14 and met with 1200 tourism operators from Australia.
CREDIT: Graham Howe attended the Australian
Tourism Exchange 2014 in Cairns as a guest of
Tourism Australia,
and Tourism and Events Queensland - see www.australia.com
and www.queensland.com