Gold Coast Tourism Doubles Down on Native Advertising Strategy

The Gold Coast is doubling down on a marketing tactic that's proving increasingly effective: leveraging trusted editorial voices to tell the region's story.

Destination Gold Coast has extended its partnership with Avid Collective, the native content specialist behind a successful campaign that launched earlier this year. The expansion signals growing confidence in native advertising—sponsored content that reads and feels like genuine editorial—as a tool for reaching travellers who are often sceptical of traditional tourism marketing.

Native content sits in a grey zone between advertising and journalism. Rather than pushing ads at audiences, publishers create genuine itineraries and travel guides that happen to feature a destination—with clear sponsor acknowledgment. The approach taps into a fundamental truth: people trust editors more than they trust ads.

The initial campaign, which ran in the first half of the year, demonstrated the strategy's effectiveness. Working with eight major publishers—Urban List, Boss Hunting, We Are Explorers, Gourmet Traveller, Signature Luxury Travel & Style, Elle, Marie Claire and Where To Travel—Destination Gold Coast reached over 100,000 readers. More tellingly, those readers actually engaged: average time spent on the long-form content exceeded three minutes and 40 seconds, and clickthrough rates hit 5.8%. For comparison, typical display advertising rarely holds attention beyond a few seconds.

That success matters because tourism is increasingly competitive. Global travel has rebounded strongly, flooding destinations with marketing noise. Travellers face an avalanche of promotional content, much of it generic. Native advertising cuts through because it delivers something audiences want: genuine, useful travel inspiration from sources they already respect.

The first campaign's itineraries ranged across Gold Coast experiences—romantic dinners at Burleigh Heads, underwater activities at Wonder Reef, glowworm colonies in the hinterland, and Indigenous heritage sites along the headland. By tailoring content to different publisher voices and audience interests, Destination Gold Coast avoided the one-size-fits-all messaging that characterises conventional tourism advertising.

The expanded partnership takes this further. Publishers will now create their own custom itineraries, drawing on firsthand editor experiences and offered through both written and video formats. This second wave aims to reach incremental audiences while reinforcing messaging to the Gold Coast's existing core visitors.

Dion Workman, head of destination marketing and experiences at Destination Gold Coast, emphasised the partnership's efficiency. Avid's process enabled them to be fast to market, working with quick turnarounds and tight deadlines. In tourism marketing, speed matters—trendy experiences and seasonal angles have narrow windows before they become stale.

For Avid Collective's Luke Spano, the results exemplify a broader shift in travel marketing. The campaign brought the city to life through different publisher voices in a way that isn't possible through traditional advertising formats. Native content can explore nuance: the vibe of a neighbourhood, the personality of an experience, the unexpected details that make a place distinctive. That distinction matters for travellers—a native itinerary doesn't feel like being sold to; it feels like getting advice from a friend who reads the publications they trust.