Tourism bosses in Australia are hoping the ‘Oprah Effect’ will help to revitalise the industry.
Oprah Winfrey is there with her entourage to record some shows in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House. As well as presenting Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure, the queen of US TV will also be flown around the country to do a series of travelogues.
Tourism Australia’s Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy, told the federal senate recently that Oprah’s core audience demographic of middle-income women aged 25-54 was right at the heart of the people that Australia wanted to influence. “They are the decision makers in travel and tourism,” he said.
Justin Wastnage, a writer on Travel Weekly, says visitor interest in Australia is high in the United States, frequently topping wish-list destinations, yet successive advertising campaigns have failed to shift Americans from thinkers to doers.
The advertising guru Todd Sampson reckons Winfrey to be the most effective brand endorser in the world, but Mr McEvoy sounded a warning that she was not the ‘silver bullet’ for Australian tourism. “The quality and appeal of the Australian product and people’s ability to fly here easily and affordably will determine success in the next decade,” he said.
by Andy Moreton
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A campaign has begun to try to prevent British tourists from getting into difficulties in the strong surf on Australian beaches. There have been a growing number of incidents in recent years – some fatal.
The British Consulate in Sydney has joined with Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) to create a series of advertisements warning travellers about the dangers. These hazards include strong rip tides, large waves, wayward surfboards and ‘things that sting’. The ads will be shown on flights to Australia from Britain during the busy tourist season from November to April.
Alcohol is often a factor. Anthony Bradstreet, the public safety education co-ordinator at SLSA said the main message to British visitors was ‘don’t drink and drown’. “You do lose a lot of swimming ability if you have been drinking – you can get quite disorientated,” he said.
Mr Bradstreet stressed that it was also important to remember that holidaymakers should swim between the red and yellow flags, where lifeguards watched the water. “If we can’t see you, we can’t save you.”
by Andy Moreton
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When Australia launches a push for the tourist dollar, the campaign is nearly always controversial.
‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ in 2006, for instance, proved a complete failure and was withdrawn. The UK advertising authority, for one, didn’t care for the use of the world ‘bloody’, and the Japanese didn’t understand it.
The slogan this year seems altogether less in-your-face: ‘There is nothing like Australia’. The promotion, aimed at recapturing flagging tourist revenues, will be rolled out in two stages with an Internet campaign followed by adverts for TV and cinemas.
Gone are the bikini-clad models and high-profile actors of campaigns past, replaced by ‘everyday’ Australians who’ve been invited to become part of the brand by competing to submit photographs and descriptions of their favourite local destinations.
“We have to have a strategy that survives … we actually think this has some longevity,” said Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson.
Unfortunately, the campaign was immediately hi-jacked. A spoof website used the slogan alongside some unsavoury images from Australia’s recent past.
by Andy Moreton
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The Australians are to try a new strategy for keeping beachgoers safe from shark attacks off Sydney in the forthcoming summer months.
They’re going to try helicopter patrols during weekends and public holidays in December and January when the waters off Sydney are at their most crowded.
The trial will take in the 51 beaches between Newcastle to the north and Wollongong to the south, including the popular Manly and Bondi beaches, which are already protected by shark nets.
The New South Wales minister responsible, Ian MacDonald, said nets and common sense were still the best way to avoid a shark attack, but the government had a duty to do all it could to protect bathers.
Three people have been attacked by sharks off Sydney this year, although Mr MacDonald observed:
“You’re more likely to be killed driving to the beach than being taken by a shark.”
Marine experts say that environmental protection of Sydney’s beaches and harbour has created a cleaner sea, but is also attracting sharks closer to shore as they chase fish.
by Andy Moreton
If you’re planning a visit to Australia’s most vibrant city, check out Luxique’s selection of luxury hotels in Sydney.
One of the most famous tourist attractions in the world – the Sydney Harbour Bridge – was turned into a giant picnic area last weekend.
Six thousand people, who’d won their places in a lottery, settled down to enjoy breakfast on the bridge, which had special turf laid on it for the occasion. The 100,000 drivers who normally use the eight-lane bridge every day had to make alternative arrangements.
The picnic was part of a month-long festival of food, art, comedy and outdoor living and it might now become an annual event.
A government spokesman said: “I don’t think we were ever doubtful of the success of this event today. It was a unique world first for this iconic attraction. This type of event typifies the Australian personality.”
by Andy Moreton
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Some of the most famous landmarks in Sydney, Australia, were obscured from view yesterday by red dust blown in from the deserts of the outback.
Strong winds had swept tons of dry soil from drought-hit areas, lifting the dust high into the air and carrying it hundreds of miles.
In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, flights were diverted and ferries suspended after visibility was cut to a few feet. Cars, buildings and beaches were coated and there were many calls to the emergency services from people with breathing difficulties.
Experts said it was the worst dust storm since the 1940s and it followed days of unusual weather all over Australia. Some areas of the country have been bombarded by hailstones while others have been basking in a mini-heatwave in early spring.
John Huxley of the Sydney Morning Herald said it would be remembered as an extraordinary end-of-the-world sort of day when the bush came to Sydney.
“Most people just stopped and stared, peering myopically for lost landmarks, like the Harbour Bridge or the Opera House or the bus. All disappeared in the swirling dust.
Many did what Australia usually does in such circumstances: took photos, at least until their cameras became jammed with dust, and swapped Tweets, saying how bizarre everything was.”
by Andy Moreton
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A row has broken out in Australia after a bid by a New South Wales state politician to have topless sunbathing banned on Sydney’s famous beaches, including Bondi and Manly.
The Rev Fred Nile, a veteran morals campaigner, said: “The law should be clear. It must say exposure of women’s breasts on beaches will be prohibited.” Other politicians backed his stand. One said that families at the beach in summer did not want to see topless women.
The proposal prompted howls of protest from Sydneysiders, who have just begun their long summer holiday. Outraged callers deluged radio stations, and the ACT nudist club in Canberra, the national capital, warned that Australia was in danger of appearing like a ‘haven for prudes.’
Australians love their suntans and topless sunbathing has been common on most beaches since the 1960s. But the country also suffers the world’s highest rate of melanoma skin cancer. A new and graphic government advertising campaign warns there is no such thing as safe tanning, building on decades of similar official warnings.
New South Wales Assistant Health Minister, Jodi McKay, said banning topless sunbathing was a step too far. “We don’t want to go down the slippery slope of banning activities like this. What would be next, banning breastfeeding?”
by Andy Moreton
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Teenage girls sunbathing on beaches at the start of the Australian summer have been warned against the practice of painting their cell phone numbers on their backs to attract boys.
The stunt has been seen on at least two beaches in Sydney. The 14- and 15-year-old girls use blue zinc sunblock cream so that the impression of the number is left on their skin after tanning.
Child protection agencies are horrified. One spokeswoman said: “We’d never advise girls to broadcast their phone number on the internet or anywhere that could make them a target. They’re in their bikinis, showing off their bodies, objectifying themselves in a way that is, to my mind, a bit trashy.”
Local police commander, Dave Darcy, agreed. “To me it is risky, you have no control over who gets your number, it is merely inviting trouble,” he said.
by Andy Moreton
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