Chennai: Tourism Australia and Visit Victoria have partnered with Radaan Media Works, the producers of Tamil television’s popular show, Vani Rani,to film an exciting series of episodes in the land of kangaroos. This collaboration is aimed to promote Australia as an ideal holiday destination among travel aficionados in South India, and inspire them to choose Australia as their next holiday destination. Tourism Australia’s key distribution partner,Baywatch Travels has come on board as the travel partner for the integration project, and will launch special Vani Rani-inspired packages to encourage travel to the regions that will provide the backdrop of the series in these special episodes.
Actors RadikaaSarathkumar, Venu Arvind and Babloo Prithviraj, among others, have made their way Down Under to shoot at least 10 special episodes in the Australian State of Victoria. The shoot will take place at iconic locations such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the historic Queen Victoria Marketin the city of Melbourne; as well as surrounding regions such as the home of the penguins, Phillip Island, the picturesque Great Ocean Road that leads to the iconic 12 Apostles, the gold mine of entertainment that is Sovereign Hill; and the interactive wildlife playground, Ballarat Wildlife Park.
Talking about her visit to Australia, RadikaaSarathkumar, Head of Creatives and lead actress of Vani Rani said, “Australia is a great destination for filming, with extremely supportive and friendly people. The locales are fabulous and everything is easily accessible. The beautiful locations in Australia are a treat to the eye, mind and heart. The lovely weather, too, is complementary to the working conditions. On the story front, the episodes shot in Australia will make way for captivating episodes that will form a turning point in the narrative.”
Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia said, “Tamil Nadu is a key source market for Tourism Australia, with the destination having welcomed 21,500 Indian visitors from the State during 2016. Recognizing the growth potential, we are continuously enhancing our efforts to build aspiration and drive visitation from the state of Tamil Nadu. Underlining the significance of the market, we’ve partnered with the most popular showVani Rani, for our first destination integration project on Tamil television. The show provides the perfect medium for us to communicate the wonders of Australia to our potential travelers in the market.Such initiatives will increase awareness and aspiration to visit Australia, and will help us drive visitation to our beautiful country.”
Vani Rani, the tale of two sisters who are poles apart in nature and have varying methods of dealing with life’s troubles and turmoil, has seen continued success since its premiere in January 2013. The show recently achieved a milestone with the airing of it’s 1000th episode in July 2016, and continues toair every week from Monday to Saturday at 9.30 PM on the Tamil television channel Sun TV.
For the month of September 2016, Australia welcomed 19,800 Indian visitors, recording a growth of 21% over September 2015. Total arrivals for the year ended September 2016 stood at 249,200, an increase of 9.6% over the previous year.
Recently, Tourism Australia, in partnership with eight airlines, launched an exciting campaign titled the Airline Marketplace, offering customers a chance to fly to Australia at attractive, return economy fares starting from just Rs.26,200. The campaign, which commenced on 21 November 2016, will run till 11 December 2016, with fares valid for travel upto 30 September 2017.
