SPECIAL EDITION | February 25 2020
In 2018, the NSW Wine Industry Association was awarded $1 million dollars under the Wine Australia State Grants Program for the purpose of building international tourism in NSW wine regions. NSW Wine then partnered with Destination NSW who are also contributing a further $1 million for the program.

As we all know, this year’s bushfires, drought and the Coronavirus have had a substantial effect on the wine and tourism industries and have also impacted our Wine Tourism Program.

With smoke taint testing still underway and no indication that the Coronavirus epidemic will be abating any time soon, some of these troubles are likely to continue for a while – at least in the short term. Efforts to deal with these problems will continue over the coming months and years, beginning with the below actions:
Now’s the Time to #LoveNSW Campaign
In response to the recent fires, Destination NSW has launched a new state wide tourism campaign with the tagline ‘Now’s the Time to Love NSW’ . This is a domestic campaign funded with money from both the State and Federal Governments. The campaign is primarily social media based using the hashtag #LoveNSW and is scheduled to be in market for the next 18-24 months.
The campaign is not technically a part of the Wine Australia State Grants Program (which is internationally focused) but it is a welcome piece of assistance for those wine businesses that have been hit hard by recent events. The fresh development of new bookable wine products and newly created wine tourism video/imagery will, however, be a great fit for the campaign and will certainly help the wine industry to feature prominently in this activity.

To find out more about this activity and how to create your own images to tap into the campaign, head to https://www.visitnsw.com/love-nsw
China Activity Delay
As you will see below (in the International Partnerships section), international partnership and marketing activity is now underway. Regrettably, the recent outbreak of Coronavirus and the resulting travel ban has created some problems in the Chinese market. As a result, NSW Wine and Destination NSW have made the decision to pause the scheduled partnership activity for China.
Existing agreements are still in place and the activity will most likely proceed once the current crisis is brought under control and the travel ban is removed. 
Content Development
The collection of new imagery and video from NSW wine regions has so far been a tremendous success. The crew faced numerous challenges including drought ravaged countryside, bushfire smoke and rain, yet somehow, they still managed to collect some incredible vision. With most of the content now captured (there are still a couple of regional visits to go) the process has moved onto the editing stage.
The team at Destination NSW has been sorting through thousands of images and editing down hundreds of hours of footage to pick the best of the best for each wine region.
The images and video that have been collected will be made available for everyone to use via the Destination NSW content page with some content already available. You simply need to register and submit a request to Destination NSW for the content you wish to use. Some of the images used in this newsletter have also been taken from the recent campaign.
Video footage that has been collected is also being edited into highlight reels. Five of these new reels can be viewed at the below links. Each one has been produced to be distinctive and to highlight the overall feel and points of difference for each region.
Highlights selects: Mudgee 

Highlights selects: Shoalhaven

Highlights selects: Southern Highlands 

Highlights selects: Canberra 

Highlights selects: Hunter Valley
International Partnerships

As outlined above, the three campaigns scheduled to take place in China have been put on pause for the time being due to travel restrictions as a result of the Coronavirus. The good news is that the campaigns for USA, UK and South Korea are currently proceeding as planned. USA and UK will begin in March 2019 while South Korea will be entering market this month.

The South Korean campaign includes partnerships with five group agents, an online travel agency (Tide Square) and an airline (Singapore Airlines). Each campaign will make use of a suitable mix of websites, social media, digital advertising, instant messaging apps and will of course include a call to action to take bookings. Some of the campaign creative from the South Korean campaign can be found at the bottom of this newsletter. We hope to have some creative from the USA and UK campaigns to share with you soon.
Wine Australia Webinar Series
Later this month, Wine Australia will be continuing their fantastic work with the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) in the form of a six-part webinar series. The six episodes started on February 17, with part one of ' Laying the foundations' . The other modules – ' Setting up your tourism experiences' and ' Securing inbound business' each take place over two sessions and will conclude in April. For more information CLICK HERE
PR and Media

A number of new PR and Media projects will be commencing in the near future and are looking great. Unfortunately, negotiations around this coverage are still ongoing and can’t be shared until it is all confirmed. We hope to have more for you by our next update planned for March 2020.
South Korean Campaign Creative Samples