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Australia, August 6, 2009 – The Roy Morgan poll asked tourism representatives to pick the next poster boy for Australia’s tourism ads and the answer is: Hugh Jackman. During the poll, respondents were not prompted with a list of suggestions.

The survey was conducted right before the Tourism Futures conference on the Gold Coast, where industry figures are set to discuss the way forward for the struggling industry.

Jackman was chosen over other famous Aussies including Bindi Irwin, Kylie Minogue, Cathy Freeman and Dame Edna. The second most popular suggestion was an indigenous person.

Conference convener Tony Charters says Jackman’s appeal is based largely on his “quintessential Aussie profile”. His involvement in the movie Australia and Tourism Australia’s companion marketing campaign also makes him an ideal candidate.

Additionally, the survey anticipates huge growth in ecotourism. 71 percent of the respondents said promoting Australia’s natural environment was the key to competing against tourist destinations in other countries.

The timely survey comes after the Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures of short-term visitor arrival decline. The year-on-year June figures dropped 4.7 percent owing to the drop in visitors form Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Australia’s tourism downturn is affected by both the global financial crisis and the incidence of swine flu, said Tourism Transport Forum managing director Christopher Brown

“North Asian countries are especially sensitive to disease outbreaks and that has been demonstrated by these falls,” he said.

Source:
news.com.au