Tourism Australia has launched its first WeChat Mini Program specifically dedicated to raising awareness and preference for Australia as a business events destination amongst event planners in Greater China.

The program, led by Tourism Australia’s dedicated business events unit, Business Events Australia, builds on the organisation’s existing digital presence in China including its WeChat channel and dedicated Chinese website.

WeChat Mini Programs are ‘sub applications’ within the popular social media channel which provide additional opportunities to maintain audience engagement with daily ‘push’ messaging, account subscriptions and two-way communication functionality.

The new Mini Program will see Tourism Australia as one of only two national tourism organisations with a dedicated business events Mini Program worldwide.

The Business Events Australia WeChat Mini Program will act as an information hub featuring inspiring content on key Australian business events destinations, experiences, products, program suggestions and success stories. The Mini Program will provide business event customers with useful research and planning tools. It will also facilitate information sharing and conversations between Chinese event planners and the in-market Business Events Australia team.

“Tourism Australia’s new WeChat Mini Program builds on our digital activity in China. It will be seamlessly integrated with Business Events Australia’s dedicated Chinese website whilst extending awareness and preference of Australia as a business events destination by engaging with target audiences in a digital space they’re active in,” said Penny Lion, Executive General Manager Events at Tourism Australia.

“Greater China remains one of our most important international markets. In 2019 business events visitors from China spent around A$470 million in Australia. Keeping connected with the Chinese events industry is a key part of Business Events Australia’s COVID-19 recovery strategy,” she added.

Users log in via unique profiles and will be able to save contacts and information, which will enable Australian industry to better leverage business development opportunities and deliver highly targeted marketing initiatives to customers in-market. 

There are over 1.2 billion users on WeChat each month, spending an average of 90 minutes per day on the platform*. In addition to being an instant messaging app, WeChat provides opportunities for organisations to engage with audiences through daily push messages and account subscriptions.

*Q1, 2020