Tourism Tasmania Tells Australians They're 'Not Really For Tourists'

Seventy-five percent of Australians would rather be called a 'traveller' than a 'tourist', and 57% actively try not to look like one. Tourism Tasmania has built an entire domestic campaign on that awkward self-image, launching Not Really For Tourists across Australian screens today.

The campaign is the latest evolution of the Come Down For Air brand platform, and it comes with a distribution play for the trade: five De-Tourist Trails, described by the DMO (destination marketing organisation) as a world first, now live at discovertasmania.com.au. Tourism Tasmania is positioning the trails as fresh inspiration for travel advisers and industry partners, not just consumers.

The hero film, The Line Up, follows a tourist queuing for a viral pastry until the line stretches across the ocean. He washes up in Tasmania, steps out of the queue, and finds something better. It's a gentle jab at itinerary-ticking, and a pointed one at social-media-driven travel habits.

Is the DMO anti-tourist?

CEO Sarah Kingston-Clark says no — playfully provocative, not hostile. "Everyone is welcome, however you choose to travel, and there's something rewarding to discover whichever path you take," she said. "But we do believe the real magic of Tassie – and most places, for that matter – often happens when you leave behind some of those more touristic habits and ways of thinking."

That's a fine line to walk. A destination telling 75% of its market that their instincts are wrong could read as scolding. Kingston-Clark is betting it reads as flattery instead.

What does the research say?

The campaign rests on nationally representative research by Decibel Research. The findings sketch a market that sellers of travel should note:

• 82% of Australians prefer fewer, more meaningful experiences over packing more in
• 86% believe tourist mindsets detract from holiday enjoyment
• 70% say modern travel feels more exhausting than relaxing; only 57% return feeling refreshed
• 73% say their best experiences come from spontaneity, yet they average 15 hours of pre-booking research — one in six spends more than 40 hours

The research also named five 'tourist conditions', ranked by self-recognition: FOMO Fatigue (37%), Planning Paralysis (23%), Queue-itis (13%), Chronic Review Reliance (11%) and Performative Travel Itch (11%).

For advisers, that 15-hour research figure is the commercial hook. Australians are drowning in pre-trip planning and still crave spontaneity. A product pitched as a loose, meandering route — rather than a locked itinerary — speaks directly to that tension.

What are the De-Tourist Trails?

Four of the five trails are regional; one spans the island. Together they cover more than 200 places, experiences and stays. Each trail is pitched as the antidote to one of the five tourist conditions.

They're deliberately unstructured — designed as suggested drifts rather than fixed programmes. That framing matters for distribution: properties and operators across 200-plus stops now have a branded route to appear in, without the rigidity of a package.

Broadcaster Lee Lin Chin fronts the campaign in Lee Lin Chin Investigates, a series of video shorts released today. It follows her first visit to Tasmania, eight years after she left television news, as the first person to experience a De-Tourist Trail.

A consumer competition launched alongside it, offering four Tasmanian holidays for two, each winner matched to one of the four regional trails. Details are at discovertasmania.com/not-really-for-tourists.

Does 'anti-tourist' marketing sell?

The bet here is that self-deprecating positioning converts better than scenery. The research suggests the audience agrees — most Australians already resent the tourist label they quietly wear. Whether 200-plus stops on five loose routes translates into bookings is the next question, and the trails' first season will provide the answer.