The Hindu Business Line : Sun, sand and movie stars

Next month's Frames 2007 in Mumbai, the annual convention of India's entertainment business, will have a delegate on a rather unusual mission. Jan Grew, member of Australia's Gold Coast city council, is a long-time film buff, but she is going there not to get her fill of Indian cinema but to entice Bollywood productions to shoot their next movie in her city.

"For the past 15 years we have been focussed on America, bringing American productions to the Gold Coast," she explains in a chat with BrandLine. "A number of blockbusters were made here (in Gold Coast), but you can't sustain that."

Again, Grew and her team do not draw film-makers to their city to earn a one-time revenue from the entourage for hotels and theme parks. The plan is a much larger one: movies can help showcase her city as a destination for tourists.

"We can spend three, four million dollars on a 30-second ad (on television to publicise the city)," says her compatriot and strategist, Pavan Bhatia, Chief Executive Officer, Gold Coast Tourism Corporation, the marketing arm for the city. "But you have 60 channels. How do we touch Indian consumers? How do we penetrate? We do not know."

"The ultimate (aim) is we have a three-hour movie made (in the Gold Coast), and if it is the right movie, we can get all the exposure we need," he notes. "The communications vehicle becomes Bollywood."

"Progressively, it is not only Hindi, what is exciting us is regional (language films) from Bangalore, from Chennai," he adds

For years, this strip of white sand on Australia's Pacific coast has been the biggest tourist attraction on this southern continent. Extensive, clean, white beaches and surf, abundant sunshine and equable weather right through the year are what nature bestowed on the Gold Coast. With toppings such as theme parks, golf courses and casinos, this city, 80 km east of Brisbane, has been a compelling draw for over four million foreign tourists a year looking for rest, relaxation and entertainment.

For most cities round the world, this would be a record to gloat over as few of them have the kind of charm to pull in such crowds. But Gold Coast City with a resident population of 500,000 is keen to outdo itself.

Of course, with cities such Dubai and Singapore wanting to be the tourism capitals of this planet armed with $2-billion funds from their governments, and now Macau for gaming, it has formidable competitors to keep pace with.

"We have an agreement with the local city council to take the total number of visitors from 4.2 million to 6.2 million by 2010, which means two million more visitors that we need to attract," explains Bhatia, whose 30-year-old organisation is a company owned by members of the city's entertainment and tourism industry, from theme parks to eateries, in all about 520 shareholders. "To put it in context, Singapore gets 9 million visitors, the whole of Australia gets 5 million."

New marketing strategy

There are two facets to the city's new marketing strategy that targets an extra $2 billion in revenue from the increased inflow of visitors.

One: Move beyond leisure-seeking tourists to the more high-spending business segment. "We have always been a family-oriented destination; but we have been missing out on business tourism," says Grew. "We see that as a high-yield market and that is important for the city."

And two: Attract tourists from beyond the traditional markets such as the US, Europe and Japan.

"What we saw in the case of Japan was a flattening and waning (in the flow of tourists) because of the economic cycle," notes Bhatia. "They started going to cheaper destinations such as Vietnam and China."

So Gold Coast is now targeting tourists from China, West Asia and India, and set the tone for it by opening an office in Mumbai in February. It finds India appealing on two counts. It is the high-spending Indians who visit Australia; they stay an average eight nights each with a budget of A$800. About 100,000 Indians visited Australia last year, with 78,000 of them visiting the Gold Coast.

But couple this with the fact that over 750,000 Indians visited Singapore, and one is talking of a huge potential. In the leisure space, the honeymoon segment is attractive considering that the highest spends are on weddings. But the 300 per cent growth in business tourism out of India for conventions and conferences is even more lucrative.

According to Bhatia, last year Hero Honda flew in 1,500 of its own staff for a conference; two months later it brought in 1,500 dealers, and launched two of its products for India in Gold Coast, and not in India.

"We are also talking to a couple of hotels in India," says Bhatia. "The city is very keen they make investments here. The reason is that 15 years ago when the Japanese boom happened, they built their hotels and their golf courses. They sent their airlines and then they sent their people.

Grew and Bhatia know how crucial it is that their strategy work out. "If tourism were to wane and we become a residential city, the chances are the economy will collapse, which is why we have contracted a $50-million funding (the city has as annual budget of A$1.2 billion, about half of which is spent on capital works) to get two million more visitors a year," he says.

Gold Coast is priming itself for the Indian tourist surge.

More Stories on : Strategy | Cinema | Tourism

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Sun, sand and movie stars

The obit tool

Singapore Airlines writes in

Kerala awaits big retail

Getting IT right

You are my India!

Leveraging the name

Respect the context, but deliver the core