Tourism WA’s new Walking On A Dream costs $2m plus millions in marketing

The new Tourism WA campaign, which highlights WA’s natural beauty and Aboriginal culture, cost $2 million to produce, which includes the fee paid to the band Empire of the Sun for the use of a “reimagined” version of their 2008 smash hit. The remaining $13m will be spent over the next year on advertising to launch immediately in the Eastern States and soon afterwards in the United Kingdom, Germany/Switzerland, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Malaysia, New Zealand and the US. They feature WA-born Aboriginal performers Rika Hamaguchi and Ian Wilkes dancing in holiday locations that include Ningaloo Reef, Margaret River vineyards, the Kimberley’s Bungle Bungle Range and in front of the Perth CBD skyline. Tourism WA managing director Carolyn Turnbull described the cost as “really conservative” and predicted Walking on a Dream would “elevate WA to the world in a highly cluttered and competitive marketplace that the world is facing right now”. “We want to be a bucket list destination, we want to be seen as a destination — as an awe-inspiring place to visit (for) those that are dreaming of other-worldly locations such as WA,” she said. She claimed the campaign had a level of “innovation and sophistication that you’ll never see in any other brand campaign” and the aim was to “reinstate” tourism’s pre-COVID contribution to the economy, which was worth $13.5 billion. Asked what targets Tourism WA had set itself to judge whether the campaign had been a success, Ms Turnbull, who has been in the job for 11 months, replied: “I’m not going to share that target with you today. “But I can assure you that we’re looking to really spearhead the growth of that $13.5b sector and grow that significantly over the next five to 10 years, and we believe that this brand can help us make our way forward.” Premier Mark McGowan, who appeared at the launch alongside Perth musician Luke Steele, one-half of Empire of the Sun, said the fee paid for the use of the hit single wouldn’t be disclosed because it would put the State “at a competitive disadvantage for future campaigns”. “That’s the commercial reality with these things, that’s well accepted by all sides of politics,” the Premier said. He said the long-term goal was to double visitor numbers and spending over the next 10 years, but he would not disclose short-term targets. The number of tourism jobs in WA peaked at 105,000 in 2016-17, before plummeting to 89,000 within two years of Labor coming to power. According to Tourism Research Australia, that figure now sits at about 78,000 jobs after more than two years of pandemic border closures. Tourism Council WA chief executive Evan Hall said the brand had to be backed up with marketing campaigns, major events and the creation of new tourism products. “We will measure success by comparing our market share compared to other Australian destinations,” Mr Hall said. “How are we going with international guests? How are we going with interstate guests?” Australian Hotels Association WA boss Bradley Woods said hotel occupancy rates in Perth remained below pre-COVID levels, but Perth was tracking “relatively high” compared with other capital cities.