SHANGHAI Tourism Australia has opened the tender process for its China public relations business, amidst growing concerns over the effectiveness of its recent 'Where the bloody hell are you?' campaign.
Calling for agencies with a strong presence in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the tender is part of a biennial government review process. PR consultancy Euan Barty has handled the business over the past two years, although at Media's press time it was unclear if the agency would be submitting.
"Tourism Australia's overall focus in China is on positioning Australia as a desirable destination for Chinese tourists, especially targeting experience seekers and sightseers," said China country manager and chief representative, May Tang.
"The agency must have the experience and ability to deliver quality services in all aspects of public relations and consumer promotions," she added.
But according to sources, the PR tender process may suffer lengthy delays as a result of a global restructure of Tourism Australia's communications strategy, which sparked the dismantling of the body's regional management team. The global management team met in Sydney recently, and it's understood the tender process, which officially closes on 31 January, may even be put on hold until the body's broader communications strategy is fine-tuned.
Kate Henley, regional marketing director has been made redundant as part of the changes, along with Greg McCallan, Asia general manager, and Louisa Aherne, regional public affairs chief.
The new structure will see the region split into two separate markets, with current North Asia GM Johnny Nee continuing to look after Greater China and Korea, while South and Southeast Asia chief Maggie White adds the Middle East to her remit. Both will report to TA's global management team in Sydney.
"The change is part of a global initiative that seeks to create more discrete regions tasked with focussing on applying and implementing Tourism Australia? global strategy, and to reduce the layers between TA's global headquarters and in-country teams," said Nee.
The tender process also coincides with questions over the effectiveness of the campaign in markets in Europe and Asia. According to Australian media reports, visitor numbers from the UK - one of TA's key markets - dropped 2.3 per cent to 60,400 people in the twelve months up to September, although tourist spend was up.
