Introduction
The report was about a tourism promotion campaign that involved the reopening of the Africa Lion Safari performed by the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) tourism in Warragamba, Sydney in Australia achieved between 2008 and 2012.
The GWS consisted of 14 local government areas (LGA) that comprised of Auburn council, Wallondilly Share, Camden Council, City of Pernith, City of Campbell town, City of Parramatta, City of Bankslown, City of Liverpool, City of Blue mountains, City of Holroyd, City of Fairfield and City of Hawkesbury. The GWS was estimated to have a population of1.9 million according to the 2006 census.
The population covered a locality of over 9000km squared including residential, rural and industrial zones. As the marketing manager of the GWS tourism promotion team, I sent the campaign report to the management team for its consent on the campaign ideas and expenditure.
The marketing strategy comprised of the following subunits; brief discussion of the DMO campaign in terms of size, turnover, visitation, number and occupancy rates and data information, promotion in campaign strategy, target marked profile, competition and channels of distribution (Haney & Perry,2004).
Objectives
- To reopen the African Lion Safari in Warragamba.
- To promote domestic tourism in Sydney.
- To increase tourism by 10% annually.
- To increase the GDP of Sydney by boosting tourism and hospitality.
The DMO campaign
The tourism promotion campaign was carried out in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia with the target population of 1.9 million individuals. The population comprised mostly of the working class. The employment concentration was in industrial and trade networks like the Parramatta Town Hall, Appian Way in Bankslown and the showground hall at Sydney Olympic Park.
The chief tourist attraction items involved the Sydney Olympic Park, the Blue Mountains and the Western Sydney Parklands that contained sites like the Westfield Penrith, Westfield Parramatta, Eastern Creek Raceway and the Black Town Olympic Park. The campaign targeted a fraction of about 30% of the Australian $85 billion in GDP per annum contributed by the 14 LGA.
In this case, the African Lion Safari in Sydney focused on becoming the 3rd largest contributor to the Australian economy after Melbourne and the Sydney CBD. The campaign also targeted the University Western Sydney, University of Sydney Cumberland Campus and the Western Sydney institute of TAFE.
Promotion campaign strategy
The aim of the promotion was to recreate an African savanna within Sydney. The GWS team aimed at availing the African Lion Safari to the people of Sydney, an item they once enjoyed in 2001. The GWS had to make the people of Sydney enjoy what the people in Africa relish without their going to Africa (Lewis & Roehrich, 2009). It was like bringing Africa to Sydney.
The promotion strategy involved different measures with certain of them incorporating advertisements on social sites, promotional trade fairs and use of external links (Plunkett, 2008). The adverts were channeled through Face book, Tweeter and Friendster. The radio and television media houses were used in creating awareness on this great tourism initiative.
The promotion campaign in terms of advertisement and awareness creation used about 1 billion Australian dollars. The channeling was not only for the people of Sydney but for the whole of Australia and the rest of the world.
Target market
The campaign targeted primarily the people of Western Sydney who were about 1.9 million in number. The region was believed to house 1 in every 11 Australians. The integration of events like the Rotary Observatory, Katromba Stamp Fair and the riverside theatre would ensure integration of local market in the campaign.
The African Lion Safari project was able to provide a supplementary tourist resort for those who liked adventure and possessed interest in wildlife, especially the lion. The initiative was also able to target Australians who enjoyed tasty food ranging from African to Asian delicacies.
The GWS was able to provide hospitable hotels and restaurants to complement the existing Chifley Hotel Penrith, St. Mary’s Park View Motel and the Grand Mercure Hills Lodge by availing better, convenient and comfortable facilities.
Competition
No business can sustain itself without competition and the Sydney tourism campaign for the African lion safaris faced a lot of competition. Competition ranged from hotels to tourist destinations.
The major competitors in terms of hotels and motels included Windsor Motel, Windsor Terrace Motel, Crown Plaza Norwest Hotel, Sydney Gateway Holiday Park and the Chifley Hotel Eastern Creek. The hotels and motels were able to provide exquisite and luxurious facilities thus posing challenges for the campaign.
The other tourist destinations included national parks like Cattail, Nattai, Blue Mountains, Yembo and Scheyville, University of Sydney, Sydney Superdome, and Sydney Aquatic Center, Sydney International Shooting Center, Liverpool CBD and the George’s river. The promotion succeeded by 55% in spite of competition.
Channels of distribution
The lions were acquired from Africa like in Kenya, DRC Congo and Uganda through the airline network. From the African savanna, the lions were carried by road to their respective airstrip (Barrow, 2005). On arrival in Australia, different modes of transport were used in transporting them.
Road transport involved the Hills Motorway, South Western Motorway, West Link, Great Western Highway and the Cumberland Highway. The railway line was also involved to a certain extent and especially in transporting the lions’ food. All the costs amounted to 5 billion Australian dollars.
Communication objective
The DMO situated in Sydney and the communication link involved the satellite system that was interlinked within Sydney like from the North Narembura and Antarmon to the south of Paddington and Woolharla. The communication objective of the campaign was to link all the regions, cities and towns within Sydney (Jeong & Nor, 2007).
The communication networks like telephones and internet were necessary tools in creating awareness of the African lion safaris and attracting interest from all of Australia. All the costs of the communication initiative amounted to 3 billion Australian dollars.
Promotion and media mixes
In the promotion of the initiative, the GWS employed different techniques in creating awareness of the African Lion Safari in Sydney (Dumville, 2001). The aspects included advertisements, public relations, and direct customer promotions. The advertisements involved radio and television advertisements that were aimed at the regular radio listeners and TV fans (Fry, 2003).
The public relations exercise was aimed at spreading information on the initiative between the GWS and the public. The organization employed topics of public interest to capture the attention of the public. The public relation activities exploited included conferences, press briefings and industrial awards (Saylor, 2012).
Direct customer contact employed the use of posters, brochures and fliers stating the purpose of the initiative and its objective. This fact was to convince the immediate customers that they were also appreciated (Brown, 2001).The promotion of sales just like in advertisements used the media, face to face communication, telephone and posters in creating awareness.
The media mix employed different media in promoting the campaign. The television houses, magazines, telephone directories, billboards and supermarket shopping carts were consolidated to facilitate the success of the campaign. In the midst of the advertisement or promotion, creative elements were integrated to enhance the campaign (Armstrong, 2002).
The elements involved giving of discounts, offering of after sale services and provision of resource materials (Cohen, &Wells, 2001). Discounts were offered to hotels and restaurants for regular customers, tour and parking fees. For instance, a 50% discount was offered to the first 100 tourists both at domestic and international levels.
The after sale services included servicing of the tourist vehicles, consultation services and rewards that ensured that any visitor was satisfied with the organization’s provisions (John, 2010). All these creative elements were reflected in the advertisement and promotion links enabling the visitors to have full information of what the initiative was all about. The promotion and advertisement cost about 10 billion Australian dollars.
Key performance indicators (KPIs)
The performance indicators were used to show the performance measurement in evaluating the success and achievement of the campaign. The following table shows the various indicators employed in the campaign.
Budget
Media release
Lions in Sydney 2nd March, 2008 The Greater Western Sydney Agency is reopening the African Lion Safari in Warragamba, Sydney ,in 2008. The initiative is to welcome both the local and foreign tourists to this great destination. An estimated 0.19 million visitors are expected.
Be the first, and come in large numbers. Discounts will be given to the first 100 visitors in the day of opening i.e. 10th March, 2008. You can contact us by paying us a visit in Warragamba, New South Wales, Australia.
Executive summary
The promotion campaign was carried out between 2008 and 2012 to necessitate the reopening of the African Lion Safari in Warragamba, New South Wales, Australia. This initiative was engineered by the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) tourism unit and it brought together 14 LGA.
The aim was to target 0.19 million visitors annually. The channels for distribution involved the road networks and the railway line which consumed a total of 5 billion Australian dollars.
The communication links facilitated communication throughout the greater western region fetching visitors from Antarman, Narembura, Paddington and Woolharla. The promotion and media mixes were employed to improve the creativity in the campaign. The promotion was aimed at creating awareness on the various services and facilities to be enjoyed by the visitors.
Sales promotions, direct customer contact, public relations and advertisements were part of the links employed. An estimated 10 billion Australian dollars were invested for the purpose of promotions and advertisements. Key performance indicators were used to assess and measure the performance of the campaign and the success of the initiative.
The aim of the campaign was to rekindle the once thriving industry of the African Lion Safari. The industry was known to have attracted a total of 200,000 visitors annually. This aspect was marginally crucial towards Sydney’s GDP and revenue. A total of 0.19 million was expected. The industry was expected to enjoy global acceptance.
Conclusion
Following the indicators outlined in the report campaign, the project has proven to be successful in tourism and interests have been realized by the government, people of Sydney and the GWS. It has however been noted that challenges have strengthened the basis of the campaign and have helped in the creation of better policies and strategies towards a self-sustaining industry (Aaker & McLoughlin, 2010).
The inclusion of better, fairer and convenient infrastructure and utilities will ensure the existence of a trustworthy tourist venture like the Warragamba project in Sydney. I would advise the government to establish measures that can help in the recovery of ventures and enterprises that have been because of issues that can be addressed.
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