New campaign encourages a ‘sick day-stow away’ to Queenstown

8 September 2015

Destination Queenstown (DQ) has today launched a light hearted new marketing campaign encouraging our Aussie mates to stow away to Queenstown for a spring break.

Designed to encourage trans-Tasman visitors to make the most of fantastic spring skiing conditions and the huge range of activities on offer in Queenstown, the “sick day, stow away” campaign takes a tongue in cheek look at pulling a sickie to escape for a holiday.

Research released by Destination Queenstown shows that of the 1,005 full-time-employed Australian surveyed, four in five (81%) have taken a sick day at some point in their career when they’re not really ill, with the most common reason given to employers for the feigned day off being ‘piggybacking on a bug sweeping through the workplace’ (18%). When it comes to taking a sick day, Australians also like to plan ahead, with the average Aussie worker taking three days to plan their pretend illnesses.

In response to this, Aussie comedian and Queenstown super-fan, Dan Ilic has created a video guide to help people call in sick so they can hit the slopes over a long weekend.

Dan Ilic comments; “The team at Destination Queenstown felt they might get in trouble if they were to teach the entire Australian workforce how to skip work and escape to the snow. Something about economic collapse, trade sanctions and potential invasion... blah blah blah. As a comedian, they thought I might get away with it. So I made a video to show fellow Aussies how to take a sick day or two off work to get their perfectly healthy arse to Queenstown. The video can be viewed at www.queenstownnz.co.nz”

Graham Budd, CEO at Destination Queenstown, comments; “While we were shocked to hear about the number of Australians that fake sick days, we can fully understand why people would go to great lengths to stow away to Queenstown, because it’s the best place on earth. Admittedly we’re slightly biased”.

And while Queenstown is three hours away from East Coast Australia it’s on the door step for Kiwis who might also be contemplating a spring visit to New Zealand’s favourite holiday destination. With great conditions right now, spring skiing is at its best.

To find out how to execute the perfect day off work to hit the slopes, watch Dan Ilic’s instructional sick day video here; https://youtu.be/A_i-LjVJyJA

ENDS

© Scoop Media