Every year the biggest brands and brightest minds in Australia’s travel industry descend on Sydney for Mumbrella’s annual Travel Marketing Summit.

This year, Journey Beyond and Town Square were invited to present The Ghan’s recent activation ‘Experience The Legend’ to discuss one of travel marketing’s biggest challenges: creating desire for a place people can’t get to right now.

This session discussed how the magic of one of Australia’s most iconic travel experiences—The Ghan—was brought to life in the heart of Melbourne during the Australian Open.

The twist? You can’t exactly roll a 774-metre, 30-carriage, 1,400-tonne locomotive into the CBD. So, how do you recreate the feeling of a cross-continental rail journey without the train itself?

Justine and Brendan revealed how the activation stopped more than 1.1 million people—including 600,000 international visitors—in their tracks that transporting city-goers through Australia’s breathtaking outback landscapes without ever leaving the city.

You can learn more about the event at the website. To discuss how we could create desire for your brand, contact Alison now.