A major two-month advertising campaign encouraging Australians to holiday in Tasmania this spring is now underway, the Minister for Tourism Scott Bacon said today.

The new million-dollar 'Tassie Afterglow' promotion targets couples based in the key markets of Victoria, New South Wales and South-East Queensland, supporting a range of promotions now underway through local tourism operators.

Mr Bacon said the bulk of the advertising campaign would focus on interstate print media, complemented by a new microsite, www.tassieafterglow.com

"With a light-hearted tone and a distinctive style aimed at emulating pulp fiction paperbacks and advertising from the 1970s, the 'Tassie Afterglow' campaign aims to set Tasmanian travel ads apart from the traditional approach used by other Australian and overseas destinations," he said.

Mr Bacon said the new campaign promoted five key holiday themes - walking; golf; food and wine; arts, heritage and culture; and touring.

"The 'Tassie Afterglow' campaign's advertisements and media choices have been based on recent interstate market research, which has shown Tasmania especially appeals to both older and younger couples," he said.

"This has helped us focus on the main target audiences for our campaign, who together account for around 2.3 million Australians."

Mr Bacon said the 'Tassie Afterglow' campaign would complement a range of other Tasmanian promotions, including interstate promotions by our regional tourism organisations, the major airlines, TT Line, MONA, mainland retail travel agent networks, local travel companies, and our local garden tourism, caravanning and trout fishing groups.

"It's great to see such a broad range of our tourism businesses working with us to promote this great state and everything we have on offer," he said.

"We will continue to invest millions of dollars in supporting the state's tourism and hospitality sectors through a range of marketing, event and tourism development activities," he said.

"Our investment in this new campaign is further evidence of our commitment to maintain a strong and viable tourism and hospitality industry in this state."

Information about the new spring campaign can be found at www.tourismtasmania.com.au/marketing/national