Melbourne Tourism Campaign a surprise YouTube Hit

• Tourism ad receives over one million YouTube hits
• Highlights the best of Melbourne including dining, art

"PLAY MELBOURNE" tourism campaign has become a surprise hit on YouTube and has been credited with boosting visitor numbers. 

The Play Melbourne tourism video, which shows a group of travellers exploring the highlights of the city, has received more than one million hits on YouTube since it was launched mid-last year.
It has also received 437,000 visitors to its dedicated website and 19,000 Facebook fans.

Victorian Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher said the campaign has been a hit.
"These figures show the Play Melbourne campaign has generated significant interest since its launch nine months ago," Ms Asher said.

"They also demonstrate the campaign is effectively achieving what it set out to do, which is spark renewed curiosity in Melbourne experiences and destinations."

The slogan for the ad is: “Forget what you think you know. Take a chance, roll the dice and see where it leads you....Play Melbourne.”

It shows a smiling group of two women and a man running between locations such as the State Library of Victoria and clothing stores as they are given various clues in their hunt for adventure.
Fashion, dining, art, dancing and flirting all feature in the video.

The campaign has been credited with Melbourne get the edge over Sydney in terms of interstate overnight visitors, attracting more than 600,000 more domestic overnight visitors than Sydney, according to the latest National Visitor Survey.