The election promise that gutted Destination NSW’s advertising spend
Three years ago, four months before the NSW state election, the Labor Party quietly unveiled a promise: cut the state government’s advertising spend by $90m over three years.
It was November 2022, NSW was still reeling from Covid‑19 lockdowns and floods, and the outgoing Liberal government faced a $15.3 billion budget deficit.
Three years on, Mumbrella analysis has revealed that Destination NSW, whose entire purpose is marketing NSW to the world, has taken some of the deepest hits to its ad budget.
This is one to keep an eye on. For something like DNSW is it better to spend $50m on ads, or is it better to spend $50m on supporting events and infra that make Sydney more appealing in a specific way. States have so many levers to use to build interstate inflow, can advertising hold its position when politicians are making ‘either/or’ not ‘and’ decisions.