Tourism Queensland’s Island Caretaker, Ben Southall (second from right), is searching for friends.
By Staff Writer
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that an Island Caretaker in possession of a good fortune must be in want of four mates.
That’s according to Tourism Queensland, who has announced plans of a global search for four people to explore the Great Barrier Reef with Island Caretaker Ben Southall.
Southall is the coveted winner of Tourism Queensland’s highly successful Best Job in the World marketing campaign, which received six awards at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival earlier this year.
When the 34-year-old Briton arrived in Queensland in July he was tasked with the job of exploring and reporting on 600 islands and 300 coral cays off the Great Barrier Reef.
Premier Anna Bligh today announced that six months would not be enough time to sample the reef, so the search was on for four additional explorers to report back to Ben about their experiences with photos, videos and guest blog.
“This campaign has been a worldwide success and that is why my government has committed an extra $1.9m to transfer interest from the campaign into visitors and bookings,” Bligh said.
“Watch this space at the end of the month as we prepare to rollout a major domestic campaign off the back of ‘Best Job’.”
Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said the latest campaign, dubbed the ‘Best Experience in the World’ would roll out shortly via the Island Reef Job website.
“To date 127,000 people have logged on to read about Ben’s Queensland adventures," he said.
“Becoming a mate of the Island Caretaker is the ideal way to engage campaign followers and bring them closer to the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.”
Tourism Queensland has reported a spike in interest and bookings for local tourism operators, despite a decline in global tourism. It anticipates that the latest campaign will generate further interest.
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