Australia signs up Asian stars in tourism drive
Tourism Australia has enlisted the support of Hong Kong actor and singer Ekin Cheng to promote tourism to Cairns and Sydney in a new television travel series.
In a major drive to boost tourism arrivals from Asia, Cheng joins other regional celebrities including Andy Chan Siu Chun, Jacqueline Wong and Lai Yi Wong in the new travelogue series, ‘Tailor Made Tours’, which is expected to reach an audience of 30 million viewers from mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Macau and Taiwan.
Andrew McEvoy, Tourism Australia’s Managing Director, said he believes that this celebrity backing will inspire more Asian people to visit Australia.
“Working with celebrities who have a genuine passion for Australia in this new television series is a great way to bring our incredible tourism experiences to life to 30m viewers across Greater China,” McEvoy said.
Ekin Cheng has also joined Tourism Australia’s ‘Friends of Australia’ advocacy programme, which recruits people to promote Australia around the world.
“Ekin joins other Asian advocates in our Friends of Australia programme, including Show Lo and Rainie Yang, boy band Grasshopper, renowned chef Wong Wing Chee and famous couple Xia Yu and Yuan Quan who do such a great job of advocating our country across this region,” McEvoy added.
Last year, Tourism Australia brought Show Lo and Rainie Yang to Australia to film an online Chinese drama series in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. The resulting show was viewed more than 120m times.
China now represents Australia’s fastest growing and most valuable market for international visitors, with 626,400 visitors spending AU$4.2 billion (US$4.1bn) in 2012. Tourism Australia is aiming to increase this expenditure to AU$9bn by 2020.
The new online drama series will be broadcast in September 2013 on Asian television channel, TVB Jade Channel as well as TVB’s online channel ‘My TV’.