By Lachlan Abbott
A cartoon kangaroo called Ruby will promote Australia overseas in a campaign to attract visitors back to the country and revive a tourism industry that was decimated by the pandemic.
Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell announced on Tuesday in Tokyo that the CGI-animated mascot would be the face of Tourism Australia’s new “Come and Say G’day” campaign, which will be formally launched next week.
Ruby the kangaroo is a new Australian tourism ambassador.Credit: Tourism Australia
Australian actress Rose Byrne has provided the voice of Ruby, who will appear on billboards in Singapore, London, New York and Japan. Japanese actress Maryjun Takahashi will voice Ruby in Japan.
Farrell told ABC Radio National on Wednesday that Ruby the kangaroo was “the new Paul Hogan” and Australia had a chance to take advantage of pent-up tourism demand, particularly in Japan, which opened its borders to international tourists on Tuesday.
“We want to give them a positive, and I might say happy, message about the opportunities to come to Australia,” Farrell said.
“The Australian tourism industry has been very hard hit by the lack of overseas tourists, particularly in north Queensland, the Gold Coast and big capital cities.”
Before COVID-19 hit, 9.5 million international visitors travelled to Australia annually, spending $45.4 billion. But border closures enacted in March 2020 stopped all international tourists from entering. Vaccinated overseas tourists were allowed back into Australia in February this year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday show despite the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, arrivals remain well below pre-pandemic levels. Short-term visitor arrivals in August were 55.8 per cent lower than the pre-COVID levels in August 2019.
At the peak of Australia’s tourism season in December 2019, Australia had more than 1 million short-term visitor arrivals. Only 348,440 short-term arrivals landed in the country in August.
Farrell was asked how Australia would stand out to prospective tourists when competition from other destinations was fierce, flights expensive and the local aviation industry battling ongoing disruptions.
“All of those things ... are correct, but all the research that Tourism Australia has done suggests that there is still a great deal of interest by overseas consumers to come to Australia,” he said.
“I’m sure the prices are higher now than they were before the pandemic, and there are fewer seats, but that will change as more and more airlines come to Australia and as Qantas puts on more and more jets.”
Farrell launched the cartoon kangaroo to front the new Tourism Australia campaign from Japan, with South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas in attendance.
Japan was Australia’s fifth-largest tourist market before the pandemic, with 499,000 Japanese travellers spending $2.1 billion in 2019.
Australian actor Paul Hogan starred in what was widely regarded as one of his country’s most successful tourism campaigns in the 1980s, promising to “slip an extra shrimp on the barbie” for prospective visitors, which has now become a famous catchphrase.
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