Tourism Australia woos Indians with cricket and holiday experience

Australia, host nation of the ICC T20 World Cup, has unveiled its latest India focused tourism campaign. In the run up to the next major global event in cricket, Tourism Australia’s call to ‘Experience the game and beyond’ is targeted at passionate Indian cricket fans, offering them a combined experience of world-class cricket and an unparalleled holiday experience. Following the phenomenal success of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which was co-hosted by Australia and saw approximately 100,000 international visitors, this campaign is aimed at attracting a record number of visitors for the twin World Cups. 

Conceptualised by Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, the core idea of the campaign is to draw synergies between India’s most loved sport and signature Australian experiences that define the legendary ‘Australian way of life’, which includes food and drink, nature and wildlife, and aquatic and coastal experiences. 

A new television and digital commercial has been produced by Infinity Squared Pvt. Ltd. as part of the campaign that features voiceovers from renowned Indian cricket commentator and Friend of Australia ambassador Harsha Bhogle; Indian singer, actress and anchor Shibani Dandekar; and Australian former cricketer Brett Lee. The trio are heard commentating on what seems at first to be a cricket match but is in fact a beautiful showcase of Australia, with the footage taking the viewer on a journey to some of our country’s most iconic destinations.

The entire campaign will run across three stages, namely, Awareness, Consideration and Booking that is eventually intended to drive visitation to Australia during 2020 and beyond. In addition to the commercial, the campaign will also leverage multiple digital mediums to amplify communications. A mix of search, display, video, social, native, programmatic and content will be a part of the digital campaign. Content partnerships with broadcast and OTT platforms will also be leveraged as part of the campaign to showcase the destination through iconic cricketers from both countries like India’s Mithali Raj and Australia’s Brett Lee. The campaign will be amplified during the Australia tour of India in 2020 and the Australian Open 2020, as well as through public relations and international media hosting programs that will see influencers from different fields have a first-hand experience of the game and beyond.

Australia’s Minister for Tourism, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham recently announced additional funding of A$ 5 million for Tourism Australia to promote the upcoming ICC T20 Cricket World Cup to fans in India, with the aim of driving visitation to both the women’s and men’s tournaments as well as increasing Australia’s broader destination appeal in India.

ICC has appointed five Official Ticketing Agents and two sub-agents, including Bharat Army, Gainwell Sports, Fanatic Sports, Sports Konnect, Cutting Edge, PickYourTrail, and Medallin Sports to sell cricket packages in India. 

The women’s tournament will kick off on Friday, February 21 when Australia take on India at Sydney Showground Stadium, with the final to be held on Sunday, March 8 – International Women’s Day – at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The women’s tournament presents an unparalleled opportunity to raise the profile of women’s sport as endorsed by ICC’s vision to set a new world record for the highest attendance at a women’s sporting fixture at the finals of the T20 World Cup on March 8, 2020, International Women’s Day.

The men’s tournament will run from October 18 to 15 November 2020, with the 45 matches expected to be broadcast to two billion people.

The two tournaments will be contested across eight host cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

India is currently the fastest growing inbound market for Tourism Australia with five consecutive years of double-digit growth. The 2020 arrivals goal of 300,000 Indian visitors was achieved in December 2017, three years ahead of target date.