IMAGES of skydivers plummeting through a clear Cairns sky will be circulated throughout India in an effort to drive tourism ahead of next year’s T20 cricket World Cup.
Cairns features heavily in a major Tourism Australia campaign to lure visitors from the growing global superpower as Australia prepares to play host to the massive sporting event.
The “hero image” of the campaign will be tourists skydiving over Cairns, with vision of the Great Barrier Reef and the city appearing in the campaign video broadcast to TV screens in millions of Indian households from this week.
The Indian tourism market is already worth almost $1.8 billion to Australia and is the country’s fastest growing inbound tourism market.
In the year to June 2019, about 350,000 Indian travellers visited Australia — up 12 per cent on the previous year.
Federal Tourism Minister Scott Birmingham is banking on the immense popularity of cricket in India to boost those figures much higher next year.
“This campaign is all about encouraging Indian cricket fans to watch a few games, but also get out and about to explore the incredible tourism experiences on offer across Queensland, including in the Far Forth,” he said.
“That’s why experiences such as skydiving over Cairns and exploring the Great Barrier Reef are front and centre in this campaign, and will hopefully entice Indian travellers to spend an extra week or a few days in the region.”
It will run across television, digital and social media channels in India until June 2020.
The T20 World Cup will be played as stand-alone tournaments for women and men for the first time and together are expected to be attended by more than a million fans from Australia and abroad.
The women’s tournament will kick off in February with the men’s tournament starting in October.
Cairns Regional Council Mayor Bob Manning said every little bit helped but the secret to selling Far North tourism was telling the truth.
“We don’t have to tell fibs, have great big expos or trade commissions,” he said.
“The truth is that the Reef’s in great condition, and we just need to get that out there.”
The campaign features voiceovers from renowned Indian cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, Indian television anchor Shibani Dandekar, and Australian former cricketer Brett Lee.
The trio commentate on what seems at first to be a cricket match but is in fact a beautiful showcase of Australia, with the footage taking the viewer on a journey to some of the country’s most iconic destinations.
