Queensland Instameet puts tourism on world stage

Published on : Wednesday, October 8, 2014

More than 6000 images of Queensland were captured by 1085 Instagrammers who gathered in almost 90 locations across the state on Saturday as part of the landmark Queensland ‘Instameet’, the biggest event of its kind in the world.
Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) CEO Leanne Coddington said Queenslanders and visitors united over the weekend to share their favourite parts of Queensland on Instagram via the #thisisqueensland hashtag.
“The world’s largest Instameet was organised by TEQ to help Instagrammers and photographers share their experiences, connect with others and profile Queensland’s amazing destinations,” Ms Coddington said.
“The social media sensation was so popular it surpassed other leading global instameets set by an Instagram group in San Diego, to be the largest on record.
“Instameets started at sunrise and continued through to sunset from the beaches of the Gold Coast, to the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland’s Outback.
“Together, we truly showcased Queensland’s visitor experiences to a global audience from skydiving over the Gold Coast, to sea walking on the Great Barrier Reef and art installations in Brisbane.”
Ms Coddington said the Queensland Instameet was a collaborative effort involving Queensland’s regional tourism organisations, event organisers, tourism operators and 40 ‘Instagurus’ from around the world.
“Queenslanders were joined by leading international digital influencers who had flown in to join the social media event from as far away as the United States, UK, Germany and France,” she said.
“Twenty of Australia’s biggest Instagrammers, with a combined two million followers, participated on the day, simultaneously posting photos in real-time.
“A series of pop-up galleries will now appear in the UK featuring images captured on the day in an effort to continue to inspire people to visit Queensland.”
Ms Coddington said the Government’s 20-year plan for tourism, Destination Success outlined the need to develop the world’s best digital tourism systems and integrate technological innovations across all tourism businesses.
This campaign supports the industry goal of growing overnight visitor expenditure from $15 billion to $30 billion by the year 2020.