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‘Come celebrate the game’ - Brett Lee asks Indian fans to ‘fall in love with Australia’

Half a million Indian visitors expected to travel to the host nation of the ICC Women and Men’s T20 World Cup in 2020-21.

Updated on: Oct 16, 2019, 20:04:23 IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
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Australia, the host nation of the ICC T20 World Cup 2020, on Wednesday unveiled its latest India focused tourism campaign and the tourism board of the country has called Indian cricket fans to ‘Experience the game and beyond. Following the phenomenal success of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which was co-hosted by Australia and saw approximately 100,000 international visitors, this campaign is aimed at attracting a record number of visitors for the twin World Cups.

File image of Indian fans cheering. (Reuters)
File image of Indian fans cheering. (Reuters)

The core idea of the campaign is to draw synergies between India’s most loved sport and signature Australian experiences that define the legendary ‘Australian way of life’, which includes food and drink, nature and wildlife, and aquatic and coastal experiences. A new television and digital commercial . as part of the campaign features voiceovers from renowned Indian cricket commentator and Friend of Australia ambassador Harsha Bhogle; Indian singer, actress and anchor Shibani Dandekar; and Australian former cricketer Brett Lee.

The entire campaign will run across three stages, namely, Awareness, Consideration and Booking that is eventually intended to drive visitation to Australia during 2020 and beyond.

Minister for Tourism, Simon Birmingham recently announced additional funding of 5 million Australian dollars for Tourism Australia to promote the upcoming ICC T20 Cricket World Cup to fans in India, with the aim of driving visitation to both the women’s and men’s tournaments as well as increasing Australia’s broader destination appeal in India.

The men’s tournament will run from October 18 to November 15, with the 45 matches expected to be broadcast to two billion people. The two tournaments -- the men’s and women’s World T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020, will be contested across eight host cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

India is currently the fastest growing inbound market for Tourism Australia with five consecutive years of double-digit growth. The 2020 arrivals goal of 300,000 Indian visitors was achieved in December 2017, three years ahead of target date.

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