Chris Hemsworth’s Super Bowl Croc Dundee ad creates surge in NSW tourism

The Super Bowl Crocodile Dundee ad starring Chris Hemsworth is being credited with a surge in tourism with more than 4.4 million foreigners visiting NSW last year. Tourism numbers rose by 200,000 with 24,000 more coming from the US compared to the previous year.

The viral Super Bowl Crocodile Dundee ad starring Chris Hemsworth is being credited with a surge in tourism with more than 4.4 million foreigners visiting NSW last year.

The Saturday Telegraph can reveal overseas tourism numbers rose by 200,000 with 24,000 more coming from the US compared to the previous year — the equivalent of an extra 62 Boeing 747 planes.

New figures to be released today show US visitors hit 495,000 last year with each person spending an average of $4951 in the local economy.

Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride in a campaign image from the Super Bowl ad.

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In total, expenditure rose from $10.3 billion to $10.7 billion with the Morrison Government praising the viral Dundee ads for increased American interest.

The $36 million 2018 ad purported to be a trailer for a sequel to the classic films starring Paul Hogan and sparked a clamour for the movie to ­become a reality. Hemsworth played the sidekick to US actor Danny McBride who was supposedly Crocodile Dundee’s long-lost son.

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said the latest numbers vindicated the decision to spend money on the ad campaign.

Chris Hemsworth in a scene from the official 2018 trailer. Picture: Dundee Movie

“It’s great to see Tourism Australia’s Dundee campaign starting to pay dividends with the number of US tourists flocking to NSW last year nearly hitting half a million,” he said.

Mr Birmingham said American tourists were big spenders in the local economy.

The campaign attempted to make viewers believe a Dundee sequel was coming.

“We know Americans love Australia, but the challenge has always been to convert that interest into action and actually getting them on a plane headed Down Under,” he said.

Sydney maintained its position as the biggest drawcard in the country with 4 million visitors, but the ad helped ­create a 31.6 per cent increase in specifically rural tourism, with more than 14,000 people heading to the bush. Every region in the state showed an increase.

“(The) Dundee campaign is helping to do just that and NSW has been front and ­centre of the campaign,” Mr Birmingham said.

The north coast, which includes popular beach towns such as Byron Bay, recorded 355,000 visitors and vineyard country in the Hunter Valley scored 208,000 visitors, an increase of 6.9 per cent.