News
Travel
'Supersize selfies' to inspire Japanese travellers

06 Sep 2015, 03:09 pm

'Supersize selfies' to inspire Japanese travellers
Sydney, Sept 6 (NITN): Japanese travellers will have an opportunity to get involved in a ‘supersized selfie’ to help them share their holiday experiences Down Under in a new promotion launched by Tourism Australia.

The ‘GIGA Selfie’ events – announced in Japan on www.gigaselfie.jp with a video starring Japanese model and TV personality Ren Ishikawa –are being held around the country starting with the Gold Coast from 11am to 4pm on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2015.
 
Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan said the campaign was a chance to capture the renewed enthusiasm for Australia amongst Japanese travellers.
 
“Japan has long been an important tourism market for Australia, with more than 320,000 Japanese visitors travelling here in the past year alone and contributing more than $1.4 billion in visitor spend,” O’Sullivan said.
 
“With new air services coming online this year there is a real opportunity to further grow travel from Japan and capture the renewed interest in Australia as a travel destination."
 
“The ‘GIGA Selfie’ campaign will help to raise the level of conversation about Australia in Japan as people share their incredible experiences of holidaying here with their friends and family back home, and in-turn helping to encourage more Japanese travellers to follow in their foot-steps,” O’Sullivan said.
 
The campaign is being promoted across a wide range of channels in Japan including digital media, TV, newspapers and travel agency activities.
 
Tourism Australia is rolling out the activity as part of its ‘There's Nothing Like Australia’ campaign in conjunction with partner airlines, travel agencies and State Tourism Offices.
 
Dates and locations for future ‘GIGA Selfie’ events will be confirmed through the campaign web site.
 
How does it work?
 
To take their enormous selfie travellers stand on a designated spot and then use the ‘GIGA Selfie’ app on their smartphone to trigger a distant camera which captures them and the surrounding landscape.
 
A link is then emailed to them and they can share their image as a short video clip which starts as a close up selfie and pulls back to reveal their location.
 
About the Japan market
 
In 2014 Japan was Australia’s sixth largest inbound market for visitor arrivals, fifth largest market for total visitor expenditure and eighth for visitor nights.
 
Visitor arrivals to Australia from Japan remained stable in the year ending March 2015 at 324,400.
 
A number of airlines recently announced plans to launch new flights between Japan and Australia and it is anticipated that capacity between the two countries will grow between five and 10 per cent in 2015, followed by stronger growth of 15 to 20 per cent in 2016.
 
Find out more about the Japan market.

Jazeera Airways offers 50% ...

Jazeera Airways, Kuwait’s leading low-cost carrier, is offering 50% off on fares to all destinations across its network from July 28 to 31.

Air India Express launches ...

New Delhi : Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India and a part of the Tata group, has launched its "Time to Travel" sale on the airline’s website, airindiaexpress.com, the Air India Express mobile app and other major booking channels.

Over 300 flights cancelled ...

Tokyo: Airlines were forced to cancel over 300 flights following the collision between a Japan Coast Guard aircraft and a Japan Airlines passenger plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday evening even as reports said the plane was cleared to land ahead of the tragedy.