SYDNEY – Oprah Winfrey might have surprised her talk show audience on Monday by giving them all a free, eight-day trip to Australia, but the trip also surprised Australians – with an AUS$3 million (BDS$5.6 million) bill.
Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said the federal and state New South Wales governments would spend more than $3 million helping to bring The Oprah Winfrey Show to Australia as a way to boost tourism.
He said it was money well spent as it would put Australia in the spotlight with the popular TV show watched by 40 million Americans and screened in 145 countries.
“Oprah is a household name and her star power has the potential to lift Australia’s profile as a premier tourist destination,” Ferguson said in a statement yesterday.
Former federal tourism minister John Brown asked the media not to be “cynical about the cost” at a time when the number of Australians leaving for overseas holidays outstripped the number of tourists coming to Australia for vacations. (AP)
Hoax call causes scare at Eiffel Tower
PARIS – Paris’ Eiffel Tower and its immediate surroundings were evacuated yesterday evening after an anonymous caller phoned in a bomb threat, but a police search turned up nothing suspicious, French media reported.
Officials evacuated about 2 000 people and combed through the 324-metre tower, a Paris police spokesman said.
By midnight, people were walking around and riding bikes underneath France’s most popular tourist spot again.
The tower itself, which had 6.6 million visitors last year, usually closes at 11 p.m.
Media reported that the scare was a false alarm. (AP)
