Touring routes and themed trails

- a valuable marketing tool

Touring routes and themed trails are now used in Australia and overseas as a merchandising tool. They are designed to attract more business (visitors) for regional destinations and regional businesses.

In many regional areas, touring routes are the cornerstone of destination marketing and are delivering thousands of new visitors especially for outback areas.

These speech notes include

·      touring route examples from United Kingdom and Canada

·      superb touring route marketing in New Zealand

·      Trans-Tasman partnership marketing of two touring routes

·      innovative concepts in Western Australia for their touring routes

·      very targeted approach in the Northern Territory

·      different touring route concepts in South Australia and the Northern Territory

·      Tasmanian touring routes involve Skulduggery

·      Great Southern Touring Route in Victoria using arguably Australia’s most successful marketing approach for a touring route

·      Newell Highway and the Kidman Way in NSW - great success stories

·      Queensland’s approach to touring routes - also a new themed trail

PLUS

·      important issues that need to be addressed for successful marketing of touring routes and themed trails

Good afternoon,

Thank you for inviting me to this splendid conference at such a magnificent venue, Daydream Island.

My topic today is “Touring routes and themed trails” - a valuable marketing tool.

Over recent years, overseas and in Australia, touring routes and themed trails have been mushrooming as a merchandising tool for destination marketing.  They fall into the following categories.

CATEGORIES

Today we are looking at

·       various marketing techniques used by different touring routes in Australia and overseas

·       extent of the competition offered by different touring routes

·       competitive standards of market communication

·       examples of different techniques used to enhance the experience for touring travellers.

The importance of websites for touring route marketing . 

New Zealand touring routes have superb websites, they are

·       of high standard

·       informative, and

·       use a wide range of hyperlinks.

Websites are invaluable as customers can access them 24/7 from anywhere in the world whereas brochures are not always easily available.

Most touring routes or themed trails in this presentation have their own website address.  In a few instances, the touring route does not have a dedicated website and is hosted on a sponsor website .  This is not “customer friendly” and is not recommend as customers can experience difficulty locating hosted websites.

OVERSEAS

In various overseas countries, touring routes are now being developed.  Show below are four examples from the United Kingdom and Canada which are worth a look.

new zealand

In NZ there are touring routes which have developed some very sophisticated marketing as shown below.

This is a combination of two touring routes

·       the Pacific Coast Touring Route, and

·       the Thermal Explorer Touring Route.

The GNZTR produces two important documents of a very high standard

·       a DL size folder 24 pages for consumers

·       an impressive Product Manual for NZ and overseas trade contacts complete with commissionable product. This can be seen at  www.gnztr.com/catalogue.asp

The website for this touring route is of “best practice” standard. There are many good ideas to be had from examining this website and its hyperlinks.

The navigator bar throughout the site also includes an “Australian connection” It is well worth a look.

SPECIAL NOTE: A very significant aspect of the Great New Zealand Touring Route is its Trans-Tasman partnership with the Great Southern Touring Route in Australia. This includes

·       a hyperlink from their website to www.gstr.org.au in Australia

·       joint marketing activities at ATE (Australian Tourism Exchange) and its NZ counterpart TRENZ (Tourism Rendezvous New Zealand)

Further details are shown later under “Great Southern Touring Route”

Pacific Coast Highway (www.PacificCoast.co.nz)

Although part of the Great New Zealand Touring Route, this touring route is also very professional. It produces

·       90,000 touring route maps for wide distribution to travellers at various points in NZ

·       an outstanding Product Manual is produced by Tourism Bay of Plenty for NZ and overseas trade contacts complete with commissionable product.

·       an impressive Marketing Plan with activities ranging from market development through to industry support along the touring route.

Thermal Explorer Touring Route

This is the merchandising name for the inland section of the Great New Zealand Touring Route.  The Thermal Explorer Highway highlights popular locations like Lake Taupo, Ruapehu, Rotorua and Waikato. Details of the route are found on the Great New Zealand Touring Route website and on destination websites along the route.

This trail passes through the wine growing regions of Wellington and Wairarapa on the North Island and across Cook Strait to the wine growing regions of Maryborough and Nelson on the South Island.

For the trade a very colourful 10 page 210mm x 210mm promotional piece has been produced.

For consumers, a leading tourism map producer in NZ, Jasons, has produced a splendid 24 page DL size free map of the Wine Trail which is widely distributed.

An interesting aspect of the NZ Wine Trail is that an organisation, “Centrestage”, undertakes the marketing.  “Centrestage is a collective of regions, tourism industry groups and tourism businesses that market Marlborough, Nelson, Wairarapa and Greater Wellington region to the international travel trade. This organisation provides very good support including

·       an excellent website,

·       a trade section and

·       a selection of itineraries.

Marketing of the NZ Wine Trail by Centrestage is well worth a look (www.centrestage.co.nz).

Jasons also produces high standard DL size maps for the following NZ touring routes as part of their wide range of free NZ maps for customers

·       Twin Coast Discovery Highway

·       Great New Zealand Touring Route

·       Pacific Highway Touring Route

·       Southern Lakes and Southern Scenic Route.

NZ is well advanced with development of other touring routes. As examples

·       at the southern end of the South Island is the Southern Scenic Touring Route, New Zealand’s first touring route (www.southernscenicroute.co.nz), while

·       at the northern end on the North Island is the Twin Coast Touring Route which is a circuitous route (www.northland.org.nz/twincoast.html)

There are other touring routes in NZ but space does not allow inclusion in this report.

Now to have a look around Australia

WA has three touring routes worthy of special note

·       Gascoyne Murchison Outback Pathways

·       Golden Pipeline Touring Route

·       Golden West Discovery Trail

Congratulations to the Midwest Regional Development Commission for undertaking the development of three themed trails in the mid-west of WA’s Outback.  They are

·       Wool Wagon Pathway.- explores the legendary pastoral country of the Murchison and Gascoyne regions

·       Kingsford Smith Mail Run - follows the route of the mail runs of Australia’s most famous pilot

·       Miners Pathway - from Paynes Find to Mt Magnet, Cue, Meekatharra and back through other gold mining country and the living heritage.

On each Pathway, specially selected interpretive sites have been developed with panels and pictures to enrich the enjoyment of the experience of visitors touring the region.

To promote these trails, two high standard “customer friendly” brochures have been produced

·       an 8 page A4 brochure

·       a 12 page DL brochure. 

Each brochure is very professional and certainly has a “customer friendly” presentation

Details of these touring routes can be found at  www.drivewa.com

Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail (www.goldenpipeline.com.au)   

The National Trust established the Golden Pipeline touring route to celebrate the centenary of the pipeline opening from Perth to Kalgoorlie.

To promote the route, a set of brochures has been produced as follows

·       a 300mmx125mm Trail Guide with a comprehensive map featuring interesting locations along the route

·       DL size 8 page folder summarising tourist attractions and facilities along the route

·       DL size book of bonus vouchers for use at businesses along the route (valid to April 2005)

·       DL size, 4 page folder promoting Kellerberrin, an attractive town on the route which is home to a unique art gallery that attracts artists from all over the world

This set of brochures is distributed in a plastic envelope and is issued free until April 2005.

Thanks to a community initiative led by Councils and the Goldfields Esperance Development Commission, a 965km adventure circuitous touring route has been developed in WA goldfields. It links Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Coolgardie with towns that are abundant with early Australian history such as Menzies, Leonora and Laverton. The route includes a fascinating array of heritage and natural attractions.

A 12 page DL brochure is widely distributed to promote the route as part of an ongoing marketing plan.

The website for this touring route is splendid and well worth a look.

Under development is the Outback Highway providing a new route linking Kalgoorlie WA with Alice Springs NT and Winton Qld.

The Winton delegate at the Queensland Tourism Conference advised that the Federal Government had recently granted $10 million to Winton to advance development of their section of the route.

When completed, the Outback Highway will provide a link from Perth to North Queensland diagonally across Australia visiting many enthralling outback locations along the way.

northern territory

The Northern Territory Tourism Commission has introduced four exciting touring routes as merchandising tools. These are supported by colourful leaflets for each route and supported by the NTTC’s Discover Northern Territory Self Drive 30 page brochure itinerary suggestions and saleable product.

The touring routes are

·       Explorers Way   linking Darwin with Alice Springs and on to Adelaide on the Stuart Highway

·       Natures Way   linking Darwin with Jabiru and Kakadu  National Park then across to the Stuart Highway near Katherine

·       MacDonnell Ranges Loop  from Alice Springs out to the East MacDonnell Ranges and the West MacDonnell Ranges

·       Pioneers Path from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon and on to Uluru/Ayers Rock

Further details of NT touring routes are shown at   www.ntexpore.com   which also includes details of other touring routes in the north of Australia,

·       Savannah Way, and

·       Overlanders Way

which link the NT with Broome in WA and Cairns on the East Coast.

Touring routes have become a primary tool to attract visitors into regional SA.  Main touring routes do not have a merchandising name.  However, SA has established a variety of themed trails.

To promote the touring route concept, SATC has produced a magnificent 154 page four colour motivational brochure promoting every part of the state.  The creative presentation is marvellous, very “customer friendly”  and complete with information travellers would appreciate. (copies - phone 1300 655 276)

One section details a wide range of routes and itinerary suggestions extending over several days.

SA now offers a variety of themed trails to highlight various parts of the state. They include

·       Seafood Trail - a great success story (see below)

·       Wildlife Trail

·       Fleurieu Way

·       Aboriginal Dreaming

·       Kidman Track

·       Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail (through to Alice Springs)

For each of these themed trails, a DL folder of many pages has been produced consistent with SA’s high standards for collateral material.

Southern Flinders Ranges

To promote visitation to the Southern Flinders Ranges in the area of Port Pirie, Melrose and Mt Remarkable National Park, Port Pirie Regional Development Board in partnership with tourism groups, Councils and local communities has developed a series of themed trails that capture the adventure, heritage and natural attractions of the area.

Two very enticing brochures (an A4 format and a more concise DL version) have been released complete with saleable product.

Adelaide-Melbourne Touring Routes

Between Melbourne and Adelaide there are three touring routes

·       Great Southern Touring Route

·       Coastal Explorers Way

·       Country Explorers Way.

The Great Southern Touring Route is one of Australia’s longest established touring routes and is now entrenched as a successful marketing tool which targets business. Further details are shown below.

The Coastal Explorers Way and Country Lovers Way were launched in November 2003 aimed at boosting demand from both Australian and overseas markets. They are linked with the Great Southern Touring Route.

Further details of these touring routes are shown below.

Coastal Explorers Way and Country Lovers Way (www.travellink.com.au)

These touring routes were developed by SA regional tourism organisations (Kangaroo Island, Fleurieu Peninsula and Limestone Coast) in conjunction with Sealink (Kangaroo Island ferry operator) and Sealink’s wholesaling subsidiary, TravelLink.

The Coastal Explorers Way travels from Adelaide through Fleurieu Peninsula, Kangaroo Island and Limestone Coast to Victoria to join the Great Ocean Road section of the Great Southern Touring Route along the coast to Melbourne.

The Country Lovers Way travels from Adelaide through Murray Bridge and Naracoorte to Hamilton Vic to join the Grampians - Ballarat Goldfields - Melbourne section of the Great Southern Touring Route.

High quality promotional material has been produced.  The DL size Great Southern Touring Route map which opens out to 28 pages has been expanded to include the Adelaide - Melbourne touring routes. Over the last year, 130,000 copies have been distributed.

For trade use, an international standard Product Manual has been produced complete with saleable product.  The 2004/05 edition is A4 size with 48 pages and has the same creative design as the Great Southern Touring Route Product Manual.

Although relatively new, these touring routes have attracted much interest from the trade.  A very commendable 130 bookings have been received from overseas and this does not include bookings made direct with products shown in the Product Manual

These touring routes are marketed in partnership with the Great Southern Touring Route and this is illustrated by the linkage between the TravelLink website and the Great Southern Touring Route website (www.gstr.org.au)

victoria Great Southern Touring Route  (www.gstr.org.au)

This long established touring route is arguably Australia’s most successful touring route particularly with international marketing. It is a circuitous route from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road to Port Fairy then to the Grampians, Ballarat Goldfields and back to Melbourne.

The success of this touring route can be seen on the Google directory page where it shows the number of organisations that offer travel itineraries and tourism product along the route.

To market this route, the sponsor tourism organisations (Geelong-Otway, Shipwreck Coast and Ballarat) have given priority to targeting

·       overseas business and

·       partnerships with other tourism organisations

while still expanding domestic demand.

Within Australia, marketing initiatives include

·       attending DTE (Domestic Tourism Exchange)

·       ongoing publicity through TV lifestyle programs, newspapers and other avenues

·       partnership with Big 4 caravan park group including being involved in joint advertising in Womans Day

·       being associated with photoshoots along the Great Ocean Road for non-tourism companies wishing to position their product.  This includes Toyota using Great Ocean Road footage for a TV commercial shown in Japan.

The Great Southern Touring route website (www.gstr.org.au) is also comprehensive and well worth a look.

Tourism Tasmania, in  partnership with regional tourism groups, economic development groups and local communities, has produced a magnificent strategic approach to the development of touring routes across the State.  These routes are delivering tourism growth to many communities that may have otherwise missed out from sharing in the substantial growth of Tasmania’s tourism industry.

This strategy also provides additional choices for visitors to the State.

Three strategic plans were produced for 11 touring routes in Tasmania’s three regions.

For each region there is a specific Strategic Plan and these can be found at www.tourismtasmania.com.au then click on Tourism industry. The touring route entry is listed below in alphabetical order.

These strategic plans are well worth a look.

Tourism Tasmania has integrated the 11 touring routes into the State’s destination marketing.  As an example the Tasmania Holiday Planner 2004-05 promotes the touring routes on pages 14-35.  On the customer website (www.discovertasmania.com.au) details of the routes can be found by clicking on “Itinerary ideas” and then “Touring Routes”.

Supporting this strategy, Tourism Tasmania has produced a splendid 140mm x 230mm Tasmania Touring Map, which folds out to a 40 page A2 sheet with a comprehensive map of Tasmania on one side and an illustrated description of each of the touring routes on the reverse.  Copies are available from 1800 008 277.  This map has also been widely promoted in full colour advertisements in mainland press travel sections.

Each regional destination brochure gives major prominence to their touring routes.

Each touring route is at a different stage of development and standards of collateral material vary.  However this is being addressed.

Southern Tasmania

Recently released brochures for the Huon Train and Rivers Run touring routes are DL size 32 pages fold out maps.  Front cover design is consistent with the design used for the front cover of the Southern regional brochure.

Northern Tasmania

The Great Western Tiers touring route has a suite of brochures.  The main brochure is a DL size 24 page fold out map.  This is supported with DL folders for attractions along the touring route such as

·       Meander Falls (2 pages) - reverse side promotes Liffey Falls

·       Yarns Artwork in Silk, an attraction (2 pages). On the reverse side the Deloraine Museum is promoted

·       Mole Creek Caves (2 pages)

·       Westbury, a delightful historic town (6 pages)

·       Sculptures of the Great Western Tiers (12 page foldout)

For these brochures the Great Western Tiers Marketing Committee has also produced a special wooden brochure rack for selected Visitor Information Centres.

Great Western Tiers also has a very good website (www.greatwesterntiers.org.au). Well worth a look.

Tamar Valley Wine Route

While this route is separate to the statewide touring route network, the Tamar Valley Wine Producers have developed their own touring route to introduce visitors to the wide array of vineyards in Northern Tasmania.

This route which is promoted in a 14 page DL brochure largely overlaps the Tamar Valley Touring Tour which does not divert to include some of the vineyards in the Pipers River area.

* Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism

new south wales

New South Wales was probably the first State to recognise the value of touring routes and developed a series of touring routes in various parts of the State.  This was supported with individual initiatives like the formation of the

·       Sydney-Melbourne Coastal Explorer Touring Route through Batemans Bay and Eden to Phillip Island and Melbourne

·       Sydney-Brisbane Pacific Coast Touring Route along the NSW North Coast

The tourism organisations along the Sydney-Melbourne Coastal Explorer Touring Route have for some years been promoting this route on a cross border arrangement between NSW and Victoria. A special four colour 68 page brochure promoting the route is produced each year by Cartoscope, leading Sydney brochure producer while attendance at international trade shows is outsourced to a marketing agency.  A Product Manual is also produced for inbound operators.

Similar arrangements exist for the Sydney-Brisbane Pacific Coast Touring Route

Newell Highway  (www.newellhighway.org.au ) Kidman Way (www.kidmanway.org.au)

These two touring routes have made a significant contribution to regional tourism in Western NSW.  They have become the primary destination marketing tool for so many regional centres. Congratulations go to the Councils, Tourism Managers, Economic Development Managers and tourism industry leaders who have made these touring routes the success that they have become.

The Newell Highway has long been a vital link which delivers Victorians and others to several Queensland destinations and touring routes. It travels from the Murray River at Tocumwal through Parkes, Dubbo, Narrabri and Moree to Goondiwindi Qld

The Kidman Way starts from Jerilderie in the South which has a connection from the Goulburn Valley Highway in Victoria through Tocumwal. It continues via Griffith, Cobar and Bourke eventually feeding into the Matilda Highway in Queensland. This provides a continuous link from Victoria to Northern Queensland.

An important part of the Kidman Way is its “sidetracks’ to Hay, Lake Cargellico, Condobolin and Nyngan. Each of these centres obtains benefit from its association with this popular touring route.

Both the Newell Highway and Kidman Way have evolved brochures over the years which have been progressively improved to better inform travellers about the attractions and facilities along their route. These routes have been supported with websites and consumer promotion activities.

queensland

Tourism Queensland has been actively involved with regions with development of touring routes around the State.

Tourism Queensland has produced a very informative reference titled “Developing and Marketing Tourism Drive Routes”  It has been written to assist communities that are contemplating being involved in development of touring routes or themed trails.  It is also a useful check list for existing touring routes and trails.  A copy can be found at www.tq.com.au/roads    It is well worth a look. A CD-Rom of the paper has also been produced for distribution within Queensland.

To provide greater marketing support to Queensland’s touring route developments, Tourism Queensland formed the Queensland Heritage Trails Network as an umbrella structure.

This Network is designed to link together authentic heritage experiences, making it easier for visitors to explore Queensland and discover more of the State’s unique history, culture and natural wonders.

This initiative is supported by a special website 

Queensland has 9 touring routes in their Heritage Trails Network as follows

·       Pacific Coast Touring Way

·       Matilda Highway

·       Overlanders Way

·       Savannah Way

·       Great Inland Way

·       Country Way

·       Leichhardt Highway

·       Outback Way

·       Capricorn Way

The touring routes are at various stages of development each has a different approach for their marketing. 

The routes are summarised in a Tourism Queensland brochure titled “Queensland’s Motoring Holiday Guide”  This guide lists a variety of touring routes which cross the State in various areas. They are mostly linear routes which provide point to point links for long distance travellers. Some observations about particular touring routes in Queensland are as follows

MARKETING SUCCESS

Effective marketing of a touring route is crucial for success. Some touring routes feel that by giving a route a promotional name and producing a brochure, success will be forthcoming.  This is only the first step. Shown below are questions which need to be addressed by all touring routes and themed trails if they want to fulfil their potential

1. Is marketing of your touring route competitive?

As this review shows, it is no longer satisfactory to just create a touring route or themed trail and feel  it will automatically attract patronage. Most touring routes are now competing with alternative touring routes which dictates that they be competitive with

·       market communication activities

·       delivery of business to regional destinations and businesses.

It must be remembered the Councils and private sector businesses invest in touring route development for the express purpose of attracting more visitors who become customers of tourism businesses. It is in this way that community benefits are derived.

Ignoring the competitive environment will limit results.

2.    Is your touring route marketing “best practice” standard?

There are two vital initiatives to be considered

·       a “customer friendly” website

·       a comprehensive touring route brochure

Website  It is vital each touring route have a high standard website.  Use of hyperlinks to destination websites is proving a practical approach.  Our NZ friends and  www.gstr.org.au  do it well.

For a website to be “customer friendly” it needs to be comprehensive with the information and pictures that customers need for travel planning - www.gnztr.com  is a good model

Brochure  High standard brochures are essential.  Regrettably many touring routes with visitor potential travel through regional locations where there is only a small number of businesses and Council funding is limited.  This is a real challenge.  Without high standard brochures supporting a comprehensive website display which enthuse and inform potential customers for the touring route, results will be difficult.

Some regional destinations impose constraints on their results when they succumb to local pressures instead of considering first the needs of customers.  A typical example is the insistence of some Councils that the Shire name be shown as the place to visit.  Leisure travellers are not interested in visiting Shire areas, they are looking for places offering enjoyable experiences, adventure, relaxation, etc.  It is important to promote destination names that appear on road maps.

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