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With Australia and New Zealand hosting the 2015 cricket World Cup, Australian state Victoria is using the star power of Brett Lee to woo cricket buffs to that country.
Lee said, “Melbourne (capital of Victoria) has a lot to offer. If I were an Indian visitor, I would want to do as much as possible. Go to Chapel Street for coffee and Kraken Centre for entertainment. Nobu (Japanese restaurant) is one of my favourite restaurants. Melbourne is also the shopping hub of Australia. There are endless possibilities for visitors.”
The fast bowler was here on Wednesday to unveil the trophy for the ICC World Cup. He is the ambassador for Victoria and the Cricket World Cup.
The tournament will be played from February 14 to March 29. There will be 49 matches across 14 cities in Australia and New Zealand.
On which Indian players he thinks will perform well in 2015, he said, “Zaheer Khan is a world class bowler. He has done well for a number of years now. I expect Sehwag too, to slap some balls and hit some sixes.”
Lee, who is known not just for cricket but also music, added about his post-retirement plans, “At the moment, I am just having some time away from cricket. I am having fun. I will be doing some more music definitely.”
Travel packagesThe Victorian Government announced plans to develop travel packages to Melbourne to coincide with the World Cup. Tourism Victoria has announced ‘Come Alive in Melbourne’ campaign to leverage social media platforms. As part of this, Indian comedians Tanmay Bhatt and Rohan Joshi will visit Victoria in April and engage Facebook fans.
Leigh Harry, Chief Executive, Tourism Victoria, said: “Very few travel organisations are doing mainstream advertising. The most important thing you can achieve in a tourism promotion now is to have people talking. The key to that is to provide a way to either engage them directly or get personalities, actors to visit your destination and generate a buzz. Social media provides an opportunity to do something different and it definitely appeals to a wide range of audiences.”
Harry said: “India is one of our fastest growing markets, alongside China. We have had more than 7 per cent growth in Indian tourists in the last 12 months. This year, we had 73,000 visitors. We expect about 9 per cent growth in the next year.”
In 2011, about 1.2 million people attended the World Cup, while over a billion watched it on television.
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