New Australia campaign to launch

Tourism Australia has announced that its new tourism campaign, which involved collaboration with the filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, will be launched this month.

Television, cinema, print and online adverts – which were filmed on location in north-west Australia and on sound stages in Sydney - will be shown in all 22 of the country's major world markets from this month until mid 2009.

Geoff Buckley, managing director of Tourism Australia, said that the organisation saw Luhrmann's new film Australia as an opportunity to make the country one of the 'must visit' destinations for travellers around the world.

He added: "We knew that this huge film would create a wave of publicity that would put the country in the spotlight around the globe. And we found that the film's story had a remarkable resonance for what we do marketing the country as a travel destination."

According to Nick Baker, general manager of marketing for the tourism organisation, the campaign is different to most promotions as it tells a cinematic story, rather than simply showing a "slide-show of pretty pictures of places and people".

It is hoped that the campaign will help Australia achieve its forecast growth of 3.2 per cent in international arrivals next year.

Baz Luhrmann's film, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, will be released in UK cinemas in December.

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