'Smoasting': The New Travel Trend on the Rise in Queensland

Miranda Kerr

Last week Miranda Kerr tweeted a ‘selfie’ from Hamilton Island to her 1.1 million followers, joining a growing list of ‘smoasters’ – social media boasters - who love Queensland.

A selfie – taking a photo of yourself – while on a beautiful beach or under a rainforest waterfall has become the modern day postcard.

Most Aussies, it seems, are prolific photo posters, uploading 136 million photos to Facebook each month.

But it’s not only Australians who love to ‘smoast’.

Research from UK company T-Mobile suggests that there are a growing number of British travellers using social media to share and brag about their getaways.

Three in five Brits smoast while on holiday, four in ten log onto Facebook and Twitter at least once a day while overseas, and almost half will only tag themselves on a holiday photo if the location is glamorous and makes them look good.

And with 200,000 Poms visiting Queensland in the last year, that’s a lot of smoasting back to the Motherland.

Tourism Queensland Digital Marketing Director Chris Chambers said plenty of research existed to indicate travellers were sharing their experiences on social media during a holiday.

“With the use of smartphones, tablets and free WiFi, travellers are snapping themselves silly and sharing everything from their breakfast to the view from their hotel,” Mr Chambers said.

Research shows that 85 per cent of leisure travellers use their smartphone while abroad and taking photos is in the top five uses of the device while on holiday.

Queensland is also home to five of the top ten most ‘checked-in’ places in Australia, which include Brisbane Airport, Gold Coast Airport, Surfers Paradise, Suncorp Stadium and Movie World.

Chris Chamber

“We are taking full advantage of this social media revolution by ensuring Tourism Queensland is on the front foot; uploading beautiful, ‘braggy’ Queensland images that people want to share. The @Queensland Twitter account boasts over 25,000 followers, while our Facebook page has more than 560,000 fans.

“That audience size makes the Queensland Facebook page one of the top ten amongst Australian brands.”

Mr Chambers said that many potential travellers were making decisions about their next holiday based on their friends' social media activity.