LOS ANGELES, July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Internationally renowned writer, producer and director Baz Luhrmann will conceive and produce a special international campaign for Tourism Australia.

The campaign, which will run for several months from October 2008 in Tourism Australia's international markets, will coincide with the world-wide marketing and release of Luhrmann's major motion picture Australia.

"The combined weight of the film and this campaign will provide Australia with its most powerful push in decades," said Geoff Buckley, Managing Director of Tourism Australia.

"This is a remarkable, and we think, unique project.

"Australia's AUD$85 billion tourism industry is, like many countries, experiencing slower growth because of rising oil prices and tightening economic conditions around the world."

Nick Baker, Tourism Australia's Executive General Manager of Marketing said, "We remain one of the world's most desired tourist destinations, but converting that desire into reality is becoming harder than ever for many travelers.

"The need to create urgency and fashionability around a country's 'brand' is stronger than ever and even Australia, which has long enjoyed an exceptionally high brand reputation, needs to keep its marketing fresh and compelling.

"There is no better way to do that than to secure the help of one of our most creative and innovative talents, Baz Luhrmann, his creative partner Catherine Martin and the entire Bazmark team.

"The themes of romance and adventure, coupled with the power of the Australian land and people to transform, will resonate in the tourism campaign, as it does in the film."

Mr. Luhrmann said, "When Tourism Australia came to us, we were reticent at first because we did not want to confuse the promotion of the film with a tourism campaign. The more we talked, the more I realized that we both had the same aims; to celebrate the truly unique and transformative power of this ancient and extraordinary continent. With this in mind, we agreed to put our team into the conception and realization of a contemporary campaign which, while not aping the film, reflects this singular and attractive truth."

Mr. Baker also commented, "This campaign will run in cinemas, on television and online. Print executions will be developed by Tourism Australia's creative agency DDB Worldwide, in consultation with Mr. Luhrmann's production company Bazmark Inq."

Vice President of Tourism Australia Americas, Michelle Gysberts, said that the combined elements of the campaign will educate North American travelers about Australia and expose them to little known aspects about a country they think they know.

"A further objective is to demonstrate that a vacation to Australia can easily fit into a typical American vacation schedule," she said.

"The film's central themes of romance, adventure, transformation, Aboriginal magic and the love of the land can be applied to many Australian experiences -- from the chic, sophistication of its urban centers to some of the most remote, untouched landscapes in the world."

"Of course our hopes are that the campaign will increase immediate demand for travel to Australia and put the country top of mind amongst North American travelers as the 'must-go' destination in 2009," finished Ms. Gysberts.