The federal government this morning announced $130 million is invested into this second “chapter” of the “Come and say G’day” campaigned launched by Australia’s visitor marketing agency Tourism Australia in 2022.
The new iteration of the campaign features celebrities from Australia and around the world, localised to individual country markets. However, Rose Byrne, who voiced Ruby in the initial campaign, is not part of this edition of the campaign, with a voice artist used instead.
“Traditionally tourism campaigns have leveraged one famous face across every market but for our latest campaign Ruby will be joined by well-known talent from five different markets to showcase personal lasting memories of a holiday to Australia,” said Tourism Australia’s soon-to-depart managing director, Phillipa Harrison.
“The new campaign features Australian wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin in the US; food writer and TV cook Nigella Lawson in the UK; actor Yosh Yu in China; entrepreneur and philanthropist Sara Tendulkar in India; and media personality and comedian Abareru-kun in Japan.
“These international stars combine with local talent, including Australian actor Thomas Weatherall and Ruby the Kangaroo, to create bespoke invitations for five markets that are tailored for each country to showcase the sort of tourism experiences travellers are looking for.
“This campaign is part of the enormous body of work Tourism Australia does in key markets around the world and is backed up by a whole range of programs that helps our Australian tourism industry grow their international business,” said Harrison.
“With competition for the international tourism dollar greater than ever before, we are confident this second chapter of Come and say G’day will ensure Australia continues to remain front of mind for travellers looking to plan and book their next holiday.”
The new campaign material comes as Australia has yet to fully recover its international visitor numbers from pre-COVID. According to the latest statistics from Tourism Research Australia, in the year to March 2025, 7.7 million international visitors travelled to Australia, 90 per cent of levels recorded in the year to March 2019.
In this morning’s announcement, the federal government suggests visitation will grow to 10 million – almost a 30 per cent rise on current figures – by the end of 2026 and to 11.8 million by 2029.
The latest business events visitation figures, which run to December 2024, show 783,000 international business events delegates visited Australia throughout 2024, spending approximately $2.5 billion. According to Tourism Research Australia, international business events visitors spend an average 59 per cent more per night than international leisure visitors.
Business events visitors and spend are included within Tourism Research Australia’s overall international visitor statistics.
Including the $130 million for this second chapter of the campaign, a total of $255 million has been spent on “Come and say G’day”.
The campaign launches in China later this week, in India later this month, in the UK, the US, Japan and Germany in September and in South Korea in November.
While the number of visitors is still down compared to 2019, both international visitor spend in Australia and nights spent in Australia are both up on pre-pandemic levels.
