We were not impressed by ACT Tourism’s great shout out to the vacuous which went by the name of the Human Brochure. (Although we will concede that identifying top social media influencers and sucking up to them is absolutely best practice and probably explains the influx of invites in my email at the moment).
The Canberra Times this morning is causing a stir and looking back in anger at the experience.
Basically letting the tourism industry put on a show gave at least those interviewed a mediocre experience:
”Would I go back to Canberra for a holiday, versus Melbourne or Sydney? No, not really,” Brisbane marketing company director Cameron Reilly said. ”It was lovely and it was nice, but there was nothing they showed me that made me want to do it again.”
Should this surprise us?
Not at all.
Almost all of the great things I love about Canberra have nothing to do with tourism professionals.
There’s not a single tourism dollar in taking dogs swimming at Uriarra Reserve.
I’ve never once said “forget the Burmese Curry, I’m going to a hotel for dinner”.
Maybe a tourism operator should offer night cycling around Lake Burley Griffin with a stop for beers at Regatta point.
But basically of all the amazing things I love about Canberra; none of them would be any fun at all in a group of 500.
So Human Brochure was an idea worth a try, with some flaws in hindsight.
But if we really want to get the serious influencers vibing on Canberra set them up for a ride with Rat Patrol ala Amanda Palmer and they’ll sort out the good time that no Government body can.
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