Eyre Peninsula
Destination Marketing Plan
Project Scope
The Eyre Peninsula is one of South Australia's premier travel destinations, epitomising the very essence of all that is beautiful and enriching in the state. Where big nature provides natural therapy, immersive wildlife encounters abound, and provenance is accessible and world-class.
The Visitor Economy is an important pillar of the Eyre Peninsula's economy, providing a stable platform for thriving livelihoods and communities. Regional Development Australia Eyre Peninsula (RDAEP) are the custodians of the regional destination management and marketing program, representing the 11 local government areas across the region. RDAEP have a a very modest marketing budget, yet have the remit to drive demand to tourism operators and local communities to an area 2.5 times the size of Tasmania!
As the Region emerged from the pandemic, RDAEP identified the need to review, realign and focus their demand driving activities to ensure they continued to deliver on the needs of local community and industry, whilst also reflecting the changes in society and specifically, how people want to interact with travel.
The Objective
The overarching goal for the new Destination Marketing Plan (the Plan) was to set the strategic foundations for custodians of the Eyre Peninsula to share their unique Australian stories responsibly to connect with visitors who have aligned values.
The Plan sought to:
- Rebuild demand post covid from the right visitors - high value visitors (intrastate, interstate and international) and niche markets.
- Even out seasonality, and encourage visitation to the region across all parts of the year.
- Encouraging longer stay and dispersal to all corners of the large region.
- Encourage responsible visitor behaviours, including supporting local communities and respect and caring for the region's natural places (in response to poor visitor behaviours and environmental damage seen in parts of the region during 2020 and 2021).
^ Eyre Peninsula Marketing Plan 2025 Vision
The Process
Destination Marketing Review
To develop a relevant and reliable Plan for the region it was essential to undertake a comprehensive review of current demand driving activities, which was achieved through desktop research and stakeholder consultation.
Consultation with the community, industry and government was an essential part of developing a robust and valid benchmark of the current state of play in the region, and was collected through over 150 community and industry submissions via an online survey, and over 20 workshops and individual meetings with key industry and government stakeholders.
The outcome of the review was a comprehensive internal document Eyre Peninsula Destination Marketing Situation Analysis September 2022 which remains an internal document to guide implementation of the new Plan.
Eyre Peninsula Brand Project
In conjunction with the development of the new Marketing Plan, RDAEP also invested in a brand project to update the region's positioning, which would provide key insights into the development of the new Marketing Plan.
We worked in partnership with the Fuller Communication to support this project by integrating brand and positioning lines of enquiry in our Community and Industry Survey. We also shared insights from the Destination Situation Analysis to ensure the two project were aligned, were informing each other, and didn't duplicate when it came to industry consultation.
Plan Development, Delivery and Implementation
The new Plan was co-created with community and environmental custodians, and is underpinned by a compelling vision, mission, mindset, guiding principles and priorities that will ensure the Eyre Peninsula remains a special place for locals and visitors alike.
The agile and forward thinking Plan was approved in late 2022, with a soft launch to industry, and immediate implementation. An official Plan launch happened late March 2023 in partnership with the launch of the Eyre Peninsula's new positioning and visual identity with Fuller.
We are currently supporting the region to implement some initial new Marketing Projects, specifically relating to Social Media Optimisation and a Visual Asset Audit and Optimisation strategy, so stay tuned for results on these projects.
The Tourism Collective are the ultimate professionals, they produce work to an incredibly high standard. I can’t recommend them highly enough!
Eyre Peninsula engaged The Tourism Collective in 2022 to develop a Destination Marketing Plan, what they produced far-surpassed expectations! The plan was extensively researched, and importantly; captured the voices of our community and stakeholders. The resulting plan provides a strategic vision that aligns with the wants and needs of the community, allows us to attract our best visitors, and outlines specific activity required to achieve our tourism objectives. As a destination, it was vital for us to work with an agency whose values around sustainability aligned with ours. The team are passionate advocates of sustainable tourism, demonstrating not only incredible depth of knowledge on the topic, but an ability to apply the principles of sustainability in practical terms.