US talk-show legend Oprah Winfrey named herself as Australia’s new global ambassador, saying her visit Down Under would be a huge boon for Australia’s image and its tourism coffers.
Ms Winfrey, recording episodes outside the United States for the first time in her show’s 24-year history, said her visit with more than 300 US audience members, would mean great publicity for the nation.
“I have named myself an unofficial ambassador for Australia and I have the biggest mouth on earth,” she said ahead of two star-studded episodes of her show before thousands of fans outside Sydney’s newly re-christened Oprah House.
“I know that there’s a lot of talk and concern in this country as to what this will mean for Tourism Australia,” she told reporters as 6,000 fans waited for Ms Winfrey and her galaxy of guest stars to come on stage.
“Let me just tell you – this is the truth: It is immeasurable what four hours of a love festival about your country, broadcast in 145 countries around the world, can do,” she said, referring to her legendary selling power.
Ms Winfrey, 56, backed by Tourism Australia and the national airline Qantas, brought 302 of her most loyal US audience members on a trip Down Under that has been punctuated by a blaze of flashbulbs and the screams of ecstatic fans.
Australia paid $4 to $5 million to lure the talk-show diva Down Under, a government minister said yesterday, but pundits claim the exposure could be worth more than ten times that amount.
Ms Winfrey, who yesterday welcomed special guests including Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, rapper Jay-Z and Bon Jovi onto her stage beneath the Opera House beside Sydney Harbour, appeared to agree. People all over the world who had never travelled or even heard of Australia would now be aware of and curious about the “magical, wondrous place called Australia”.
“What I know for sure is that what will happen is that people... who had never even thought about Australia, didn’t know where it was... will have the seed planted in their hearts,” she said
Ms Winfrey’s Harpo productions has spent nearly seven million US dollars on the trip, which saw the talk-show queen bring out 200 of her own production staff in addition to the 300 fans. It is the final season of the eponymous show.
“It’s probably one of the best tourism initiatives Australia will ever make,” said Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce.
“There’s no doubt in my mind it’s the best marketing expenditure we could make,” he added.