I just got back from a 2 week break in Tasmania. The island is an amazing place. The scenery, wildlife, food and drink are all divine. I was last there when I was a wee lad so was excited to visit the place and it didn’t disappoint.

We were lucky enough to catch the end of the Taste of Tasmania. In its 24th year the food festival celebrates local produce. Working in the digital industry I was excited to see the promotion of the event’s hashtag #tasteoftasmania it was posted on all signage. Instagram looked to be the most popular platform with 1,411 posts. A suggestion for next year’s event is to have free wi-fi and run a photo competition.

Driving around Tasmania I wasn’t expecting the state to be fully digital. But I nearly fell off my seat in Launceston when I saw the cafe (PX Tapas on George st) I was eating breakfast at was accepting Bitcoin. Not sure if many people know much about it, but it was great to see the sticker! ABC’s 730 TV show had an informative segment on Bitcoin last week and featured a couple of cafes and businesses in Australia using the digital currency.

With limited tourism budget, Social Media is definitely the channel the Tasmanian government and local businesses should be utilising.  Now that I’m back on the mainland I’ve researched some brands using Facebook and there are some tourism pages doing a good job posting fan photos, but overall it seems to be underutilised. With so many tourists from all over the world, the opportunities to get free/low cost publicity is untapped. Sure you will need to spend some money on advertising, but this will help with the reach of content. While it’s fresh in my mind I will write a couple more posts on my Tasmanian trip.