When you travel, does your pet go too?

If your four-legged friend is part of your travel plans, you are not alone.

The Pet-Friendly Cradle Coast campaign, running from May through to mid-July, welcomes visitors with pets by highlighting travel, accommodation and experience options that are pet friendly.

“The family pet is increasingly treated more like a member of the family, and regularly included in holiday plans,” said Theresa Lord, Cradle Coast Authority's Tourism Manager.

“Through our research, we discovered a significant number of our target audience who love the Cradle Coast region considers their pet when traveling, so we created the Pet-Friendly Cradle Coast campaign in response.”

The target audience identified are those who have the greatest affinity with the tourism experiences the Cradle Coast Region has on offer, and the greatest likelihood of becoming fans and advocates for the region.

“The youngest of our target audience, travels with her partner, a friend and/or her dog, so our latest mini marketing campaign is aimed at her,” Ms Lord said.

Kathy Horner, from the Pet Industry Association of Australia, agrees this is an area of growth in the travel sector.

“The demand for pet friendly accommodation is definitely on the rise,” Ms Horner said.

“Websites such as Trivago and Wotif offer searches for pet friendly accommodation, while dedicated websites such as Holidaying with Dogs, offer listing and search facilities for people wanting to take their pets on holidays with them.”

For the Pet-Friendly Cradle Coast campaign, the Cradle Coast Authority has partnered with The Spirit of Tasmania, which is a popular choice for people traveling with pets.

“By taking the ferry, the journey to our region is made easier for visitors who wish to bring their car and pet. Spirit has also generously donated a travel voucher as a prize, which we will share more details of in the coming weeks of the campaign,” Ms Lord said.

“Tasmania's natural assets are also front of mind, and we are taking the opportunity to highlight the areas visitors can and can't take their pets, so they can experience all that we have to offer, while respecting the region, and its native flora and fauna.”