SYDNEY – The Sydney Opera House Trust has rejected a $1 million offer to allow online hotel booking site CheapHotels.com.au to project its logo and brand name on the iconic sails for one week.

Braden Yuill, CEO of CheapHotels.com.au, said the offer was very serious.

“The Opera House Trust lost $19.6M last year, that’s a direct cost to taxpayers. Our offer goes some way to stemming the losses and provides easy income to the Trust.”

“Of course, it would be a major coup for our brand to appear on Australia’s most famous tourist attraction.

“Public buildings all over the world accept advertising in exchange for revenue. Indeed, most events in the Opera House are sponsored.

“We don’t see any reason why this can’t be extended to projecting a company logo on the sails,” said Yuill.

Advertising on public buildings is not new. According to Wikipedia’s entry on the Eiffel Tower, illuminated signs for Citroen adorned three of the tower's four sides as far back as 1925, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time.

CheapHotels.com.au wanted to project its logo and a picture of a large yellow gorilla, the company mascot, on the city side of the largest sail.

Yuill added, “We are a hotel booking site and we are trying to reach out to tourists and Sydney residents. We can think of no better way to get our message out.”