Australian Golf Digest launches “Play Here, Stay Here” initiative

Australian Golf Digest announced overnight that it has launched an initiative encouraging golfers across the country to ‘Play Here, Stay Here’ over the next 12-18 months.

“With more than 70 percent of our readers going on two (2) golf trips annually and almost 31 percent going on three (3), we want to encourage them all to look at playing the great golf courses we have here in our own backyard,” said Editor-in-Chief Brad Clifton.

The campaign launches to coincide with the publication’s April edition (The Masters Issue) and encompasses a range of promotion across the assets of the magazine, online, social media and video platforms.

“We are lucky that across our Australian Golf Digest network we reach close to 450,000 golfers each month so why not use this to our advantage,” Nick Cutler, Managing Director of Australian Golf Digest stated.

“We have heard directly (from the courses themselves and tourism bodies) how the bushfires have directly impacted traffic, and now with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak it’s almost the perfect storm. So when Brad and the team approached me around the initiative it made perfect sense. We are aiming to produce at least 100+ pages of local travel editorial alone over the next 12 months (which will all be loaded onto our website: www.australiangolfdigest.com.au) and in addition to this we will push the message via our social channels, encouraging golfers to play and stay right here in Australia”

Added Clifton: “It won’t just be your mainstream golf-tourism locations that will be a main area of focus. We have some truly breathtaking and affordable golf off the beaten track that our audience needs to experience for themselves, particularly in regional Australia. This campaign will encourage them to travel in groups of four, eight, 12 and more because we know with golf comes additional spend around accommodation, food and wine. Golf can inject much needed cash into the local economy, stimulating tourism in areas that so badly need it.”

Australian Golf Digest has created a specific “Play Here, Stay Here” logo and will encourage a social media campaign with the hashtag #playherestayhere for its readers to use. Promotional material will be sent out to clubs, where they can display the point-of-sale in the pro shop or on their noticeboards.
“We want everybody to share their experiences of playing golf in Australia and educate one another on why these fire-ravaged regions remain critically important to the footprint of Australian golf, not to mention memorable places to play,” said Clifton.

Added Cutler: “We have reached out to the governing bodies, tourism boards and have had some great response with our initial high-level discussions, it really makes sense for them to get involved and for us to work together on this”