Perth will be under the spotlight in the United States when Oprah Winfrey gives away a trip to Perth on her show next week.
Perth will be under the spotlight in the United States when Oprah Winfrey gives away a trip to Perth on her show next week.
The Oprah Winfrey Show is travelling to Sydney from December 7 to 15 and taking 300 Americans with it.
Oprah announced on Tuesday she would give away a trip to Perth for one of her audience to travel to the Western Australian capital with a guest before meeting up with the group in Sydney.
Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson welcomed the announcement.
"Next Tuesday, Perth and Australia will be in lights as more than 40 million US viewers of the Oprah Winfrey show are told one lucky audience member will be flown to Perth for a short break before meeting up with the rest of the Oprah travel party in Sydney in next month," Mr Ferguson said.
The giveaway was a great result for Perth and Australia, Mr Ferguson said.
"The announcement of Oprah's trip has already generated more than $17 million in advertising and is a great coup for Australia's $33 billion tourism industry."
Perth was announced as the host of the world's largest gas industry conference, LNG 18, last week and will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next year.
"Increasingly, Perth is being recognised as a world class city for both business and leisure visitors," Mr Ferguson said.
The Australian Hotels Association CEO Bradley Woods said it was great news.
"It is fantastic that Perth and Western Australia have been confirmed as destinations that will be included in Oprah's plans and that the State will feature prominently in the promotion," he said.
"This will be a huge boost for the profile of WA globally, particularly in the United States and it would have been a tragedy if we had been left off the radar.
"The industry has worked hard behind the scenes, in conjunction with Tourism WA, to present a strong case to Harpo Productions at those efforts have paid dividends," said Mr Woods.
In announcing the giveaway Oprah said she couldn't wait to get to Australia.
"We're just weeks away from our ultimate Australian adventure and we've got a case of Aussie fever," she said.
Two shows will be recorded at the Sydney Opera House on December 14, in front of audiences of 6000.
More than 350,000 requests for tickets to the recordings were received.
Australian residents will make up 95 per cent of the audience, which was decided in an online lottery system.
