Can a film sell a country? Only if it’s very good

economist: “COME and Say G’day”, a tourist campaign built round Paul Hogan, the star of “Crocodile Dundee”, brought visitors swarming to Australia. Now, almost 25 years later, with the country’s tourism business back in the doldrums, the authorities are hoping that another quirky outback movie will pull the same trick.

“Australia”, which opened in its home market in November, is the most expensive Australian film ever made. It has some of the country’s biggest cinema names: Baz Lurhmann as director; Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman as stars. But in America its early box-office takings were disappointing and its reviews have been pretty sad.

That has not stopped Tourism Australia, the government body that spins the country to potential visitors, from pouring A$50m ($33m) into a campaign linked to the film. Big hopes are riding on this. As a long-haul destination, Australia has been straining to build its visitor numbers in recent years: 5.6m visitors this year, unchanged from 2007.

One problem, according to Nick Baker, marketing manager of Tourism Australia, is that the country is suffering from a “lack of fashionability and buzz”. A two-year campaign built round the slogan “So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?” only made things worse: some countries judged the campaign gauche, others a turn-off.

So Tourism Australia commissioned Mr Lurhmann to film two travel commercials, set in the same northern Australian outback locations as his film, and involving Brandon Walters, a young aboriginal actor who almost steals the movie’s limelight. Tourism Australia hopes that the commercials, which will run in 22 countries until mid-2009, will help it meet its target of raising visitor numbers by 3.2% next year.