Oprah Winfrey encourages people to move to Australia

18/11/2008 by Simon Wallace

Chat show queen Oprah Winfrey has given a major boost to the tourism bodies working hard to encourage people to move to Australia.

Baz Luhrmann's new film 'Australia' is soon to be released in America, and has been endorsed by Winfrey, who said it made emigrating to Australia seem extremely attractive.

Winfrey told Luhrmann. "I have not been this excited about a movie since I don't know when. Congratulations on your imagination, your vision, your creativity, your direction. Our hearts are all swelling because, my God, it's just the film we needed to see. Australia's going to make you want to jump on a plane and go Down Under."

The Oprah Winfrey show has an estimated 49 million viewers in the US and also airs to a further 141 countries. The fact that Oprah has endorsed the film is expected to result in an increase both in the number of people going on holiday to Australia and the number of people considering a permanent move to Australia.

Australia's tourist bodies welcomed the endorsement: "This is hugely powerful exposure and a great example of how the movie publicity generates publicity for the country itself," said Tourism Australia managing director Geoff Buckley.

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