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Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work. (Read 2230 times)
imcrookonit
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Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Jul 19th, 2011 at 7:07am
 
I’ve done enough whingeing about Australia’s policy-free tourism strategy for 10 men. But what was I expecting when someone at Tourism Australia last year thought of the gimmick of inviting the Oprah Winfrey entourage here to tape some TV shows for overseas audiences?

Of course, I’d say we took the $5 million it cost us to the toilet and flushed it.Tourism Australia is now telling us it’s too early to make judgements: we’ll see the benefits in the next year as Americans and other potential visitors make travel plans and book Australian holidays as a result of Oprah’s flying circus around Australia.   Sad

The Sunday Age reports US arrivals for the first five months of 2011 fell by 0.8 per cent, compared with the same period last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The dip was even more pronounced in Britain and Canada, where Winfrey's Ultimate Australian Adventure also aired in January.   Sad


Canadian arrivals from January to May 2011 fell by 5.1 per cent year on year, while British arrivals dropped by 4.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, Australia, which used to be flavour of the month in Japan and the US before that, has now been adopted as one of a range of hot new destinations by the adventure-hungry Chinese middle class, who, for the first time since the 1850s gold rush, have the money and the motivation to head Down Under by the Boeing-777-load.

Several years ago, China’s complex travel bureaucracy conferred on Australia so-called preferred destination status, which has helped open the floodgates from the Middle Kingdom, but some critics believe Australia should have spent more on developing the Chinese market.

That’s only half the problem, as far as I can see. It’s a poor advertisement for Australian tourism if the local population is deserting the place to holiday overseas in record numbers and has been scathing on blogs such as this about what they’re leaving behind.

At a summit last year on the future of the industry, Tourism Australia spoke among other things about the need to build new five-star adventure resort-style properties to cater for an expected influx of new visitors in the next decade.

But I heard nothing about the twin issues that I think dwarf all others: value for money and customer service.

For foreign visitors, Australia is never going to be a dirt-cheap holiday like Thailand or Indonesia. For a number of reasons, it has become probably the most expensive country in the world.   Sad

It has at least one of the key elements right: cheap air transport, thanks to the efforts of successive governments of both colours in enabling domestic and international competition.

But that’s where the pass marks end. While the airline part of the system is right, they’ve utterly failed consumers by producing the highest-cost airports system in the world. The savings that the airlines give to consumers are being transferred to the infrastructure funds that own the airports because the Howard Government removed price controls. The current government has done nothing to fix the situation; it gives the impression it has done nothing because it doesn’t understand the industry.   Sad

This bears on Australia’s broader economic problem. Australia has become the most expensive country on earth for tourists and locals alike and a large part of the reason, in my opinion, is the failure of national competition policy: i.e., we don’t have one.

Even in the past few months, Australian shoppers have begun voting with their laptops and mice: if they can buy it from overseas, they will to avoid anti-competitive arrangements in retailing that add to end-user prices.

State governments have been busy rubber-stamping increases in electricity and water prices with apparently few questions asked.   Sad

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has become a toothless tiger, which has not been given the powers to police the gate-keepers of most of our wealth: fuel companies, banks, supermarkets, insurance companies.   Sad

Tourists’ per-capita spending is down, we learned recently, even though numbers overall are up marginally. No wonder, if everything in Australia is unaffordable. Twelve dollars for a small punnet of blueberries?.   Shocked 

The other big mother of a problem that has almost become part of the Australian DNA is lousy customer service. I don’t want you to again launch forth on this frustrating subject because, when it comes to holidaying in Australia, apparently you and I both are howling at the moon.

Any danger Tourism Australia, without attempting to re-invent the wheel, could put some time into the customer service issue?

Indeed, if its first impulse is to build more five-star, it would seem to me that Tourism Australia is part of the problem. In a high-priced country, the priority should be affordable three and four-star, it seems to me. 
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imcrookonit
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #1 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 7:13am
 
comments so far

    This is outrageous. We pay for one of the richest women in the world and her entourage to come here for a holiday and to promote her show. Like the Grand Prix it's a total waste of taxpayers money!

    Catherine | East Kew - July 18, 2011, 11:56AM .    Angry 

    Did you actually think that people overseas who watched Oprah would jump on a plane right away to come here? If it aired in January, I wouldn't expect to see anyone until at least October...when it gets warm again. When people do a big trip, it usually takes a bit of time to organise. let's see if the arrivals goes up or down in oct-Dec. then you can criticise if it doesn't work.

    And yes, holidaying here is way too expensive, for poor quality.  Sad 

    quimby | Sydney - July 18, 2011, 11:59AM

    A well-reasoned piece, full of good ideas and suggestions. However I think you're also overlooking an important element in analysing these statistics - that big drop in tourist numbers coincided very neatly with all the natural disasters at the start of the year. The floods were international news. Then we had Cyclone Yasi, and the regular bushfires, and more floods, and it wouldn't surprise me if we picked up a bit of a loss from the Christchurch earthquake too, with New Zealand such a close neighbour. Natural disasters, even when they're over, make people shy of visiting an area for a while. Look at Japan's tourism numbers right now, and New Zealand's, or New Orleans' after Hurricane Katrina. In fact, I'm not sure if New Orleans' thriving tourism industry has ever fully recovered.

    Not even the most amazing campaign by Tourism Australia can offset images of a wall of water sweeping through Toowoomba. Not that there's no room for improvement, but some things were probably out of everyone's control.

    Ree | Brisbane - July 18, 2011, 12:05PM

    Great summary of all the issues. We were hoping to avoid air travel with our 5 year old this summer, but with 30-40 year old holiday houses renting for $1500-$2200/ week on the coast in Victoria, plus food etc, a trip abroad is once again a no-brainer.   Sad

    I don't anything will change in this country until there is a hard recession. Too easy= too complacent.   Shocked

    MJ - July 18, 2011, 12:06PM


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/travel/blogs/travellers-check/why-oprahs-visit-didnt-work-20110718-1hkt6.html#ixzz1SUf4KTu6
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imcrookonit
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #2 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 7:15am
 
Of course, I’d say we took the $5 million it cost us to the toilet and flushed it.   Sad
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Ex Dame Pansi
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #3 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 7:51am
 
1. because the Yanks are broke.

2. because we have nothing to see that's worth flying half way around the world.

3. because we are rude to overseas visitors and they heard about it.

4 because Oprah undid all the 'good' she did when she got back to America.

5. because we should have concentrated on selling Aussie land to the cashed up Asians instead of the yanks.

6. because we are overpriced and rip tourists off.

7. because we were not giving a free toaster to every visitor.

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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #4 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 9:22am
 
Quote:
Of course, I’d say we took the $5 million it cost us to the toilet and flushed it.   Sad




Oprah effect takes flight in the NT

18 Jul 2011



The Northern Territory is betting on the “Oprah Effect” continuing to buoy the region’s tourism industry for years to come, following
a 6 per cent rise in US visitor numbers during the first three months of this year
.

According to Tourism Minister, Malarndirri McCarthy,
the NT Government spent $508,000
on Oprah Winfrey’s visit to the Red Centre in December last year, while
the investment produced broadcast media coverage of Australia in the US valued at $9.4 million per week, and $8.6 million for the Red Centre content.


The rise in US visitors to the Territory is in contrast to national figures.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of US tourists to Australia dropped by 0.8 per cent during the first five months of 2001. Interestingly, the Sunday Age reports these figures are “even more pronounced” in other countries where the Oprah show’s Ultimate Australian Adventure  also aired early this year, including Britain and Canada, where arrivals from May to January this year fell by 4.6 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively.

But the
Ms McCarthy says anecdotal reports from the Central Australia tourism industry indicate that the region’s March quarter has been particularly strong.
“This result is likely to be influenced by Virgin Australia’s direct flights from Sydney to Uluru as well as the airline’s improved links between the USA and Australia – making access easier – as well as the raised awareness of the destination through exposure around the Oprah Winfrey Show,” she says.

“While it is too early to be able to measure the total impact of Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure but
the Northern Territory did experience immediate effects
and we believe her visit will greatly benefit the region and Australia in the years to come.”

Ms McCarthy says Oprah’s Australian shows – which reached more than 44 million viewers a week in the US – created a fantastic platform to promote the NT. “Over the coming year, the Territory Government will continue to target the NT’s mature market of the US through key initiatives, including US airline partnerships; industry education events as well as broadcast, print and digital campaigns and promotions,” she says.

General Manager of Tourism Central Australia, Peter Grigg also expects
the flow on effect from Oprah to be felt for years to come.
“The show’s coverage enabled Australia and the Northern Territory to reach millions of potential US travellers and presented a good holiday option by allowing them to experience what she and her Ultimate Viewers experienced,” he says.



http://www.accidentallyoutback.com.au/news/1043-nt-hangs-visitor-boost-on-the-qo...






The $5M investment was a bargain basement investment - considering the LONG TERM returns - and a pittance on previous campaigns

The degree of success of advertising is ALWAYS difficult to guage when so many other factors come into the equation

How much further down would numbers have been WITHOUT the exposure ?


The biggest deterrent, at the moment, is the exchange rate





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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #5 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 12:59pm
 
Fair point Buzz.

There outside influences like Oz dollar, poor US ecomony, Greece issues etc would be far greater than people not responding the marketing that was done via Oprah.

You only need to look at travel by Aussies that her visit promoted.
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #6 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 1:29pm
 
Verge wrote on Jul 19th, 2011 at 12:59pm:
Fair point Buzz.

There outside influences like Oz dollar, poor US ecomony, Greece issues etc would be far greater than people not responding the marketing that was done via Oprah.

You only need to look at travel by Aussies that her visit promoted.




Oprah had ONE of her groups come to Hepburn Springs and Daylesford for a day trip to ...


http://www.hepburnbathhouse.com/home?gclid=CMaElr65jKoCFUYDHAodZhq5yA

... and ...

http://www.lakehouse.com.au/



Tourist numbers here have SKYROCKETED
A LOT of people from Japan
We avoid "town" on the weekends
No carparks
Though this HAD started to rise BEFORE "Oprahmania"





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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #7 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 1:39pm
 
buzzandidj writes like a 4 year old
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buzzanddidj
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #8 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 1:51pm
 
barnaby joe wrote on Jul 19th, 2011 at 1:39pm:
buzzandidj writes like a 4 year old



As opposed to THINKING like one ?
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'I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
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barnaby joe
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #9 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 1:52pm
 
no you do that too
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buzzanddidj
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #10 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 2:10pm
 
barnaby joe wrote on Jul 19th, 2011 at 1:52pm:
no you do that too




What upset you, DARLINGK ?
That I said visitors from Japan ...

... rather than
"slope invasion"

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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #11 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 2:12pm
 
i hate your posts

die
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buzzanddidj
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #12 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 2:47pm
 
barnaby joe wrote on Jul 19th, 2011 at 2:12pm:
i hate your posts






But you'd LUV me POLE !!!





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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #13 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 7:13pm
 
Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Jul 19th, 2011 at 7:51am:
1. because the Yanks are broke.

2. because we have nothing to see that's worth flying half way around the world.

3. because we are rude to overseas visitors and they heard about it.

4 because Oprah undid all the 'good' she did when she got back to America.

5. because we should have concentrated on selling Aussie land to the cashed up Asians instead of the yanks.

6. because we are overpriced and rip tourists off.

7. because we were not giving a free toaster to every visitor.



8. Our exchange rate is off the planet !!

9. Yanks are tight arses with short arms and deep pockets but they want top dollar for everything they flog.
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Re: Why Did The Oprah Winfery Visit Not Work.
Reply #14 - Jul 19th, 2011 at 7:53pm
 
The money spent by Tourism Australia to get Oprah downunder for those three shows was the best money it ever spent.

Oprah is a worldwide institution watched by billions across the globe - not just Americans. This will get people from many different countries to come to Australia.
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