Tasmania has had many tourist slogans over the years, from “Come up for air” to “Go behind the scenery”, but perhaps you should consider “not to be confused with Tanzania”.
A major US celebrity news publication confused the island state of Australia with the East African country after the world-famous Irwin family visited Cradle Mountain. Bindi Irwin posted pictures of her family’s trip to her Instagram, which has 5.7 million followers.
She made the trip to the Tasmanian national park with her husband Chandler, daughter Grace, brother Robert and mother Terri.
Attracting worldwide attention, it was picked up by People, which bills itself as the number one source for “the most trusted celebrity news.”
She posted a story about the trip, noting that “Bindi was accompanied by her husband, daughter, mother and brother on the trip to the East African country.”
“On Saturday, June 22, the Australian television personality, 25, shared a carousel of photos on Instagram from a family vacation to the East African country, tagging the resort where they stayed, Cradle Mountain Lodge, in the last photo”.
The People article was also posted to its 9.7 million Facebook followers.
The wildlife-loving family is dressed in puffer jackets in front of the iconic Dove Lake, and several social media followers rightly pointed out that the current temperature in Tanzania was 29 degrees.
One person wrote: “I once had a map of Australia that labeled Tasmania as Tanzania. A lot of people get them mixed up and still get paid.”
Another asked: “Are they on top of Mount Kilimanjaro with a toddler?!?”
Celebrity outreach
Those in the tourism business said the mistake was not all bad news for Tasmania.
Amy Hills, of the Tasmanian Tourism Industry Council, said she would still draw attention to Cradle Mountain as a destination.
“While it seems an unfortunate mistake as Tasmania is clearly a long way from Tanzania, in a strange way it gives us the ability to create even more buzz around our iconic Cradle Mountain,” Ms Hills said.
“When influencers like Bindi Irwin share snapshots of our island, especially while enjoying it with friends and family, it has a huge reach and potential impact.
“Hopefully, those reading the article will visit Bindi’s actual post and see those snow-capped mountains and iconic crib scenery, prompting them to investigate their own trip to Tassie, during the winter months.”
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Associate Professor Anne Hardy from the University of Tasmania’s School of Social Sciences said influencers and celebrities had a big impact on people’s interest in places.
“Millions and millions will see your posts, so they will have a huge impact,” he said.
He pointed to a summer visit to Cradle Mountain by actress Nicole Kidman.
“What we can see is that when you have influencers in a particular area, when people go to that area because of the influencer, they often try to imitate what the influencer has done,” he said.
“It has a profound impact on where people go and what experiences they seek.”
Opportunity knocks
Dr Hardy said confusion in Tanzania could be a problem if people were looking for an experience they couldn’t find.
“From a Tasmanian perspective there is a risk of them losing tourists to Tanzania, but I think most people are smart enough to deal with it as long as there is no Cradle Mountain in Tanzania,” he said.
He said Tasmania and Tanzania could work together as a twin-city agreement.
“Could they have lost a travel agency if there are travelers in Tanzania looking for wombats?”
Dr Hardy said Tourism Tasmania could make it a new campaign.
“Tourism Tasmania is doing some really quirky and fun marketing at the moment, so this story probably gives them an opportunity,” he said.
The agency recently unveiled its ‘Odd Jobs campaign’, inviting tourists to apply for positions organizing oysters and walking wombats.
“Tourism in Tasmania has become synonymous with super quirky marketing, so for me this gives them another little opportunity and they can turn things around for the state,” he said.
“We have always been known as quirky and unusual and this plays to the strength of our brand.”
Dr Hardy said in all seriousness that Tasmania’s tourism industry was going through tougher times than usual as this year’s Dark Mofo festival, a big winter draw, had been scaled back.
“There haven’t been as many visitors, so any quirky and fun stories about the condition of people like Bindi will help those operators who really want to do more business at this time of year,” he said.
“The power of word of mouth and the power of influencers are very important when people make decisions about where to do it.”
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Tasmania’s Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson said he was “sorry that People magazine has not been to Tasmania recently as the Irwins have, we are very pleased they are here in our state.”
“I think People magazine would like to publish a second column about how good it is to live here in Tassie, the best island in the world.”
Mr Ferguson said he did not believe it was detrimental to the Tasmanian brand.
“The interest is welcome in the sense that we get the same kind of questions from our friends in America who occasionally think that the Tasmanian Devil is from a small island off Africa and that just stimulates conversation and gets people investigating. the truth of the matter and fall in love with our state.”
It’s not the first time
Confusion over Tasmania and Tanzania seems commonplace, and the state’s entry in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia is quick to clarify that the state is “not to be confused with Tanzania.”
In 1988, a Pakistani cricketer was mistakenly sent to Tanzania instead of Tasmania, where he was to play cricket in Launceston for Old Scotch.
It was reported at the time that bowler Matiullah Khan said his travel agent confused the state with the African country and sent him to the other side of the world, significantly delaying his arrival for the summer cricket season.
He eventually arrived but the saga caused anxiety among the club awaiting his arrival and Khan was said to be “not happy” after spending four days in Tanzania before setting off again.
JackJumpers basketball coach Scott Roth also joked that he didn’t know where Tasmania was before taking on the inaugural coaching role, thinking he was heading to Tanzania to coach his basketball team.
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