Oprah Winfrey’s trip to Australia kick-starts influx of American visitors
Skift Take
The publicity that a destination garners from a few blog posts is nothing in comparison to the tourism boost that results from lengthy exposure on a national celebrity’s TV show.
Oprah Winfrey's visit to Australia is finally paying off, with the growth in American tourists at its highest level since the Sydney Olympics. After a drop last year - attributed to the global financial crisis - the number of US visitors rose nearly four per cent to around 472,000 people in the year to October.
A survey of 500 US travellers last October found 73 per cent had visited recently or booked a trip in the coming year had been influenced by Oprah. "It's not just Oprah though, I think the marketing the state tourism organisations have done with us and the airlines has also helped."
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