Victoria to take advantage of Japanese Melbourne Cup win!
Victorian tourism stands to benefit directly from Japan’s success in the Melbourne Cup, with the rush of publicity in Japan also rasing hopes in Victoria for a potential rush of Japanese tourists.
Tourism Victoria will also work to capitalise on the triumph, lifting the race to the top of its list of promotion-worthy events, with the 2007 Spring Racing Carnival now higher in the pecking order of Victorian events such as the Australian Open, Grand Prix and the Melbourne International Arts Festival in Japanese promotional campaigns.
Tourism Vic CEO Greg Hywood told the Age that the aim is now to build on any nostalgic ties the Japanese cup quinella may have evoked, adding, “The strapper crying, the jockey crying, is a big emotional connection,” adding “You may have people in Japan saying, ‘This is a big race, this is worth crying about’.
He also said “The win might not have been great for the punter but it was great for tourism.”
Last year more than 25,000 visitors came to Melbourne for the carnival, contributing $21 million to the State and Racing Victoria’s international operations manager, Leigh Jordon, said: “This win is definitely making pretty big news back in Japan and I think it is safe to say that we can expect to see many more people from Japan coming out next year.”
Mr Jordon said when Japanese horse Deep Impact competed in last month’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe almost 5000 overseas visitors went to the French race because of the horse.
The Japan Racing Association’s Naoki Nishimine said publicity gained from the cup was promising, adding “Japanese people looked at the newspaper and read about the Melbourne Cup this year … and they are very happy. They are interested in the race and in Melbourne more than last year.”
Racing, Gaming and Tourism Minister John Pandazopoulos said Labor would commit $200,000 for international marketing and campaigns in the Asia Pacific region for next year’s Carnival, adding, “We expect the (carnival) to become the Asia-Pacific region’s premier racing event.”
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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