'Best Job in the World' campaign fails to lure foreigners

Sydney, Nov 8 : Tourism Queensland may have hailed Best Job in the World as the 'most successful tourism campaign ever' but it has failed to attract foreigners.

As per the official figures, the number of international holidaymakers travelling to Queensland dropped by 8 per cent in the 2008-09 financial year, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The total number of international visitors - which also includes people travelling on business and for other reasons - fell 5 per cent.

The Best Job in the World campaign, a 2.5 million dollar strategy that returned 390 million dollars in global publicity, captured the imagination of a worldwide audience when it was launched in January.

The prize was a six-month, 150,00-dollar job as the caretaker of Hamilton Island.

Briton Ben Southall, 34, landed the job.

In October, the campaign received the Australian Marketing Institute's marketing program of the year award, the Queensland Premier's Award for Excellence and a British Campaign Big award.

Tourism Queensland said about 1.45 million international tourists travelled to Queensland in the 12 months to June 30, 2009, a drop of 119,000 from the previous financial year. It said international business travellers to the state dropped by 27,000 to 166,000.

Tourism Queensland said that numbers in other categories increased slightly, resulting in a total fall of 117,000 in international visitors.

In the Whitsundays, where the campaign was focused, the total number of visitors from other countries dropped by 10,000 to 218,000.

A spokeswoman for Tourism Queensland said that it had been ''a challenging and turbulent 12 months for the tourism industry worldwide'', largely because of the global recession.

It was now working on campaigns to convert ''massive interest into real bookings''.

--ANI