Oz tourism advert ‘word of mouse’ hit worldwide

Melbourne - A new tourism commercial of Australia has received more than eight million views online in just two weeks.

Most of the hits have come from China, where the ad was launched, on popular Chinese websites such as Tudou and Youku.

The advert has also been viewed 175,000 times on YouTube and 240,000 times on Tourism Australia’s website, Australia.com.

An interactive tablet app, which was launched at the same time, has also been downloaded more than 6,000 times.

The 90-second ad showcases some of the country’s most luxurious and expensive travel experiences.

It includes scenes of a woman getting a massage at Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa in the NSW Blue Mountains where Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke wed Kyly Boldy last month, a couple playing chess at the high-end Saffire in Tasmania and five-star dining at Uluru in the Northern Territory.

Australia’s natural beauty has also been displayed in the video that has sweeping images of the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, a glittering Sydney Harbour and gum trees blowing in the wind.

But the ad has also had it’s share of controversies, with Tourism Australia coming under fire over a scene which shows a couple walking along a beach in South Australia where alcohol is banned carrying a bottle of wine.

The commercial was premiered on Tourism Australia’s Facebook page, which is the most popular destination page in the world with more than three million fans.

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said that the strategy of using digital advocacy to sell Australia had been critical to the campaign’s rapid and widespread take-up.

“Advocacy has quickly become deeply integrated in Tourism Australia’s marketing activities, and is at the heart of the latest phase of our Theres Nothing Like Australia campaign, where we have embraced

social media platforms and actively encouraged people to share their passion for Australia with their own networks,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.

“Word of mouse is a powerful thing and I think our approach of getting the advocates of Australia to help tell our story for us is really paying off,” he said.

McEvoy hopes to double overnight visitor expenditure to up to 140 billion dollars by the end of the decade.

The 250 million dollars campaign has begun rolling out in China, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia initially and will be active in 18 of Tourism Australia’s key markets by the end of the year.

The organisation is also encouraging Australian tourism operators to promote their business by listing themselves in the `things to do’ section on its Facebook page.