Australia creating world-wide buzz about Australian holidays

Baz Luhrmann’s latest big screen epic Australia has created a world-wide buzz about the country, with stories and endorsements for holidaying in Australia becoming big news internationally.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Geoff Buckley said the level of destinational publicity that Australia had received so far had already exceeded expectations.

“Australia as a holiday destination is riding a huge wave of publicity at the moment which has been generated by Baz Luhrmann’s new film,” Mr Buckley said.

“When we partnered with Twentieth Century Fox we knew there would be enormous opportunities to generate global exposure for our country and our public relations teams have been working hard to maximise these opportunities.”

“However, the level of publicity already received before the movie has opened at the box office has been quite phenomenal.”

“Around the world, more than 100 million people have already heard about Australia the movie and been given a taste of the country via 20th Century Fox’s, and Tourism Australia’s public relations efforts, with stories running on Oprah, Good Morning America and Entertainment Tonight in the US and on BBC television and radio in the UK.”

“New figures also indicate that more than half a million people have already watched Tourism Australia’s new campaign online, via Australia.com, Ninemsn, YouTube and MySpace.”

“As the momentum of the campaign and buzz around Australia the movie continues to build we want more people to feel inspired about what an Australian holiday has to offer – whether it’s in the outback, by the coast, or in the cities,” Mr Buckley said.

Today, Tourism Australia will hold a special pre release screening of Australia the movie for travel media and industry partners. A number of Australian and international celebrities will also attend this event. They have been invited as part of Tourism Australia’s new advocacy strategy – an outreach program that is aimed at creating a bank of local and foreign opinion leaders who can help drive word-of-mouth “buzz” by communicating their Australian experiences to their own networks….The Mole will be there!

Mr Buckley said Tourism Australia’s publicity and advertising efforts would continue over the coming months as Australia the movie is rolled out around the world.

“Our primary focus is to harness the excitement about Australia, generated by the movie publicity and promotions, and to create a sense to urgency visit now,” Mr Buckley said.

“Through our marketing efforts we hope that as people get caught up in the romance and adventure of the movie that they will fall in love with the idea of holidaying in Australia”.

Highlights of the destination coverage on Australia internationally include:

Oprah special 1 hour ‘Australia’ episode (USA), 10 November 2008 – 7.4 million US viewers

Good Morning America (USA), 10 November 2008 – 4.4 million

Entertainment Tonight (USA), 7 November 2008 – 7.7 million

Conde Nast Traveler (USA), November 2008 – 2 million

Travel + Leisure (USA), November 2008 – 4.7 million

Parade (USA), November 2008 – 32.4 million

Los Angeles Times (USA), November 2008 – 2.1 million

San Francisco Chronicle (USA), November 2008 – 9 million unique visitors online

Associated Press, November 2008 – destination story picked up extensively in US daily press

Reuters, November 2008 – destination story picked up extensively in daily press

The Guardian (UK), November 2008 – 1.2 million

The Independent (UK), November 2008 – 260,000

Hello! (UK), November 2008 – 430,000

Vanity Fair, November 2008 – 1.1 million

Men’s Vogue (USA), November 2008 – 750,000

Bon Apetit (USA), November 2008 – 1.2 million

New Zealand Herald (NZ), 20 November 2008 – 190,000

New York Times (USA), October 2008 – 1.1 million

Men’s Journal (USA), October 2008 – 700,000

Food & Wine (USA), October 2008 – 950,000

Entertainment Tonight (USA), 1 September 2008 – 7.7 million

The Insider (USA), 1 September 2008 – 3.5 million

Access Hollywood, 1 September 2008 – 2.7 million

Los Angeles Times (USA), August 2008 – 2.1 million

International Herald Tribune, August 2008 – 242,000

New Zealand Herald (NZ), August 2008 – 190,000

The Standard (Hong Kong), August 2008 – 100,000

Vogue (USA), July 2008 – 2 million

For more information about Australian holiday experiences visit www.australia.com

For more information about the campaign visit www.tourism.australia.com

A Report by The Mole