South Australian Tourism Commission - Female Employee of the Year

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Company: South Australian Tourism Commission
Company Description: The South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) is a state tourism organisation focused on marketing South Australia to national and international audiences, and bringing new and exciting events, conferences and festivals to South Australia. Tourism is an economic priority and our mission is to make South Australia a destination of choice for international and domestic visitors.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Female Employee of the Year - Government or Non-Profit

Nomination Title: Alexandra Paxinos

Since skipping year 10 and starting university aged 16, Alexi has become a dedicated tourism marketer and had her work published in globally distributed print, digital, and OOH media. After realising soon into her career that promotions and pay-rises weren’t handed out by shoulder taps, Alexi–competitive and ambitious–dived into upskilling herself and building her confidence, brand, and advocacy. The results saw her promoted/seconded seven times in her five years at the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC), and her salary increase almost double in six years.

Now, Alexi is Project Manager of Product Development at the SATC, developing demand-driving tourism experiences in South Australia (SA). She’s also driving the growth of others through her roles as South Australian Chair of a national young tourism network; Deputy Chair of a female non-profit association, and; Committee Member of a female creative industries network. Still in its infancy, she’s also co-founded an international education agency on the side.

Alexi was previously responsible for marketing activities across Hong Kong, Japan, and China, and saw these markets grow by 102%, 7%, and 30% in the five years Alexi had responsibility for these markets (YE Dec 2015 vs YE Dec 2019).

In January 2021, Alexi was appointed to lead the third iteration of the domestic COVID-19 recovery campaign ‘Great State Vouchers’ (GSV). It aimed to support the hosted tour and experience segment of the South Australian tourism sector which had been impacted by the decrease in visitation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and South Australian bushfires that occurred one year prior.

The campaign – which rolled out in less than 90 days from inception – saw nearly 45,500 people make bookings with more than 220 South Australian tour and experience providers, providing an immediate cash injection to these businesses during the traditionally quieter winter months. The end result? An ROI of 6:1, $12 million in economic impact for the state of South Australia, and a difference in the lives of many small tourism business owners in South Australia.

Prior to this, Alexi delivered a challenging, high-impact consumer campaign in Hong Kong. The activity had been stopped and started for the prior nine months due to the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests (including the campaign talent being apprehended and arrested), the South Australian bushfires, and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to its launch, the campaign was knocked back by senior management due to budget constraints but reworked to see its approval for an October launch and ultimately completed by July 2020. Despite a broken user-journey, the campaign delivered >3 million in reach (48% above target), 564k video views (11% above target), and exceeded the target number of competition entries by 18%.

In her first 10 days on the GSV project, Alexi undertook research to understand the downfalls of the first two iterations of the Great State Voucher program and areas for improvement. Bringing this knowledge to the procurement panel, Alexi ensured the third-party program facilitator could deliver an improved, all-in-one voucher redemption and booking system. It led to a voucher redemption rate exceeding the target rate (and that of previous Great State Voucher iterations) by 18%, while also moving away from ‘first-in-best-dressed’ to a ballot system, thereby improving the user-journey, and enabling comprehensive data capturing allowing for retargeting.

Prior to this, Alexi was able to deliver a high-impact campaign in Hong Kong by pushing back on the answer “no”. It’s this attitude to constantly question, and a desire to do something different, that has helped contribute to the growth out of North Asia since Alexi has had responsibility for these markets, including seeing China overtake the US and UK as SA’s primary international source market.

The recipient of B&T’s 30U30 2021 award and Stevie WiB 2020 award, Alexi has been seconded/promoted across four roles at the SATC since Jul19, while also taking on the roles of Chair, Deputy Chair and Board Member, and Committee Member of three professional organisations. Through these roles, Alexi has sourced combined sponsorship exceeding $25,000, delivered record attendance at events, and increased membership by more than 50%.

Alexi has also taken on several speaking engagements including virtually to students at Anderson University’s Fall School of Business.

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