ANZ tourism’s digital adspend resilient despite COVID-19: Study

Digital adspend by major tourism bodies and airlines in Australia and New Zealand has not completely dropped despite the ongoing challenges to the industry, according to Mumbrella, citing data from Pathmatics.

Why it matters

Since April 2021, Tourism Australia, Tourism NZ and Air New Zealand’s adspend had all been trending upwards as a result of the Australia and New Zealand travel bubble. However, with the ongoing COVID-19 situation in Australia, it is likely spend will not return to those levels until the travel bubble is reinstated.

Five findings

• There was a decrease in spend during the initial border closures in March 2020 but then, an increase as some borders opened again.
• In June 2021, Tourism Australia’s digital adspend reached the highest it had been since January 2020, with A$1,695,200 spent.
• Australia’s borders closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Qantas suspend its entire international operations.
• Qantas’ digital adspend peaked in March 2021 with almost A$1 million spent that month – Australia and New Zealand had a travel bubble but it has since closed again.
• The two NZ companies, Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand, follow a similar trend, where a clear decrease was seen when New Zealand’s borders shut in March 2020.