Qantas offers Americans a free passport to see Australia
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In a new digital and online campaign targeting US travellers Qantas is encouraging more Americans to holiday in Australia by offering to pay for their passport.
Qantas’ Not Your Typical Airline campaign launches today in the US and is timed to support the arrival of the airline’s new 787 Dreamliner.
The video and digital banner ads tap into the insight that only 40 per cent1 of Americans hold a valid passport and that Qantas is offering these travellers a US$135 discount, or the cost of a US passport, off their next ticket to Australia.
Other components of the campaign showcase the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru as well as Australia’s unique hiking trails, outback water holes and native animals, explaining that Australia also offers not your typical vacation experience.
Qantas Chief Customer Officer Olivia Wirth said the airline is keen to encourage more Americans to apply for a passport and make Australia their next international holiday.
“Australia is in the top five destinations Americans would consider travelling to in the next four years,2 yet more than half the population do not hold a valid passport,” she said.
“We want to make this process easier and offer our American customers US$135 off the price of their fare, essentially covering the cost of a new passport.
“As Australia’s national carrier we are proud and excited to share all that Australia has to offer – and with this campaign we are keen to help boost tourism to our cities, towns and regional areas at the same time.”
Says Asheen Naidu, Executive Creative Director, BWM Dentsu Sydney: “Sometimes the most obvious solution is the right one. When we realised that three out of five Americans don’t have a valid passport, we immediately came up with the idea to help them get one. After all, if you want more people to travel, first you have to make sure that they can.”
More than eight million international visitors travelled to Australia in the year ending June 2017, injecting $40.6 billion into the Australian economy. Of these, 753,000 visitors were from the US spending a total of $3.7 billion during their stay, up seven per cent on the previous year.3
Just over a third of US travellers visit up to five regions when travelling to Australia, following food and wine trails, exploring coastal areas and spending time experiencing Australia’s native animals and wildlife.
Qantas offers more non-stop flights per week between the US and Australia than any other airline with direct flights from Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Dallas/Fort Worth and Vancouver.
It is the only carrier to operate the award-winning A380 between the US and Australia, and in December 2017, will add a new service from Los Angeles to Melbourne on the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
To redeem the discount, US customers can visit qantas.com/passport and enter the promo code ‘PASSPORT’. The offer is available to all US citizens irrespective of whether they hold a passport.
The offer is valid between 19 October – 28 November 2017 for all ticket classes on flights originating in the US to Australia booked on qantas.com.
- 2016 valid passports in circulation (including passport cards): 131,841,062 https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/statistics.html
- http://www.tourism.australia.com/content/dam/assets/document/1/6/x/t/v/2003395.pdf
- http://www.tourism.australia.com/content/dam/assets/document/1/6/y/m/0/2004408.pdf