Finns Bali invests about US$300k to breathe life back into island with tourism stakeholders

Beachfront venue Finns Bali is launching what it describes to be the "biggest tourism campaign" in the history of Bali. Done in partnership with some of the island’s major industry stakeholders, including Bali Tourism, Wonderful Indonesia, Bali Hotels Association and Garuda Indonesia, the global campaign is titled "Back to Bali" and aims to breathe life and bring hope back to the destination after a challenging year as a result of the pandemic. 

As part of the campaign, Finns Bali is offering a Bali holiday experience voucher valued at IDR15 million which can be purchased for just IDR5 million. The voucher covers F&B and accommodation credits as well as a Finns VIP membership credit and can be purchased via the Back to Bali portal. According to Finns Bali, credits are also fully interchangeable, allowing users to customise them to suit different needs. Back to Bali offers access to over 100 participating resorts, 500 villas and various activities. Participating partners include Five Elements, Six Senses, Abaca Villas, Massilia Villas and Rumah Ludwig, to name a few. At the same time, Finns Bali also worked with Bali Prod to roll out a new film showcasing the best Bali has to offer. 

Finns Bali COO, Beau Whittington, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the company expects to invest approximately US$300,000 in this campaign to draw future travellers back to Bali. "We are optimistic that we can sell out all vouchers and bring hundreds of thousands of people back to Bali in the future," he added. 

The campaign will essentially be an eCommerce page with the voucher product on sale until 20 July. According to Whittington, marketing to drive traffic to the website will be through email databases, partner apps, social media channels and a strong global digital marketing campaign through Google and Facebook.

Finns Bali has looked to engage with as many tourism partners as possible and has provided the campaign video as well as marketing tools that partners can customise to promote through to their networks. On top of that, it will also collaborate with "thousands of influencers and media partners" worldwide to drive the message globally and ensure maximum reach. 

At first glance, the video seems rather skewed towards a Western audience given the talent used in the video. However, Whittington explained that "a substantial portion of the marketing budget" is invested in Southeast Asia as it sees the region as a key market for future travel to Bali. Many of the influencers it has partnered with are from Southeast Asia, with huge followings within Indonesia and Singapore. "We have also partnered with multiple large-scale businesses within Southeast Asia, including Garuda Airlines, AirAsia and Grab, to launch unique campaigns to target this market sector directly. 

Last week, multiple media reports including The Straits Times, BBC and The New York Times reported a partial lockdown in Bali and Java as COVID-19 infectious surged in the areas. Movement restrictions will be enforced until 20 July. Nonetheless, the news does not severely impact Finns Bali's operations. Whittington explained that while there have been increased restrictions, the government did not impose a complete lockdown. Hence, it will continue to market the Back to Bali campaign as planned. 

"We have found that people want to plan their travel despite travel restrictions, ready for when things lift again. The Back to Bali campaign is built around optimism for future travel, so the voucher is valid for up to three years and extendable for a further three, giving people a full six years to use it. The primary aim of the campaign is to get people Back to Bali, once travel resumes," he added.