Tourism Tasmania doubles down on Off Season as winter demand grows

Tourism Tasmania is doubling down on its Off Season platform, relaunching the campaign for 2026 as it continues to reposition winter as a peak travel period rather than a downturn.

Now in its sixth year, the campaign invites Australians to “become a winter person”, building on a long-term brand strategy that has helped drive record visitation and spend during the traditionally quieter May to August period.

Created with BMF Australia, the latest iteration leans further into Tasmania’s distinct winter identity, using bold, black-and-white portraiture contrasted with neon-green typography to cut through a category typically dominated by sun and escape narratives.

SEE MORE: How Tasmania made winter cool

The work continues a deliberate positioning shift, reframing winter as something to lean into, rather than avoid. More than 500 bookable experiences and offers sit behind the campaign, developed with tourism operators across the state. These range from luxury stays and food-led experiences to wilderness expeditions, sauna and contrast therapy, dark-sky tourism and immersive cultural events.

Major drawcards including Dark Mofo, Beaker Street Festival and Tasmanian Whisky Week anchor the broader winter calendar, reinforcing Tasmania’s positioning as a destination built on distinctive, seasonal experiences.

High-impact placements form part of the national rollout, including an immersive audio-visual takeover of Sydney’s Martin Place Metro tunnel, alongside outdoor formats across Melbourne’s CBD. The campaign runs across television, video-on-demand, digital, social and trade channels. 

Lindene Cleary, chief marketing officer at Tourism Tasmania, said the platform’s success has been driven by consistency and creative differentiation rather than scale of spend.

“From the beginning, the Off Season has been about reframing how Australians think about winter – not as something to escape or endure, but something to lean into,” she said.

“While we don’t have the same marketing budgets as some other destinations, we’ve focused on being creative, consistent and distinctive in how we tell Tasmania’s winter story – and that’s where we’ve been able to cut through.”

The 2026 campaign combines returning high-performing assets with new creative executions, continuing to build on established brand equity while refreshing the work for new audiences.

Cleary said the goal remains to convert inspiration into bookings, with a fully integrated approach designed to connect brand storytelling directly to commercial outcomes.

Tourism Tasmania CEO Sarah Kingston-Clark added that the campaign reflects growing demand for experience-led travel.

“This year’s Off Season campaign invites Australians to ‘become a winter person’ – to lean into the chill and become awakened, restored and transformed by Tasmania’s winter,” she said.

“Experiences are at the heart of the Off Season, and this campaign is a true collaboration with Tasmania’s tourism industry.”

The campaign runs nationally through to the end of August, marking the next phase of a platform that has steadily turned Tasmania’s coldest months into one of its strongest growth drivers.