A few weeks ago, Global Excellence Travel’s Judith Hay, the only Ocean State travel agent to be designated a “Premier Australia Specialist,” phoned a colleague at Qantas Vacations, a California-based travel agency specializing in trips to Australia, to see what he was planning to do for the release of the movie “Australia.”
“And he said he had been given permission to rent four theaters on the East Coast” for private showings, recalled Hay, whose specialist distinction is part of a program run by Tourism Australia, the island continent’s official national tourism board. “I said, ‘I want to be one of them.’ ”
So on Dec. 16, Hay hosted a party for 200 guests at Warwick’s Showcase Cinemas, where she was joined by Qantas and Australian tourism representatives. She invited potential clients to the free showing in hopes that the movie, which is at least as much about the country as it is the characters, will make Rhode Islanders who’ve thought about traveling to Australia consider it more sincerely.
“I will follow up with an Australia night in my office in January,” Hay added, “so that people who are truly interested in going to the country can get together and use me as a sounding board to see what’s out there and what it costs.”
The idea of traveling to a location based on the love of a good movie isn’t a new one. There are Web sites – such as www.movie-locations.com – set up for moviegoers who want to find out where certain films are shot.
And R.I. Tourism Division Director Mark G. Brodeur said the state is just now starting to look at the possibility of using Rhode Island-filmed movies as a draw. Next spring, his office is going to hold a workshop to discuss packaging and cooperation within the hospitality industry – that will include talking about cashing in on movies like “Meet Joe Black,” “American Buffalo,” “Outside Providence” and even the documentary “Buddy.”
“One of these areas that we could talk about with hotels [and others in the industry] is the movie sets,” Brodeur said in a recent interview. “We definitely know that it does generate interest. What we haven’t seen is that it generates primary interest, being the one reason people are coming here.”
He added that many of the visitors who were looking for Rhode Island’s movie locations were looking for those from “The Great Gatsby,” for which many of the mansion scenes were filmed in Newport.
And there recently have been efforts to bring tourists to Rhode Island for tours of movie locations, Brodeur added. He pointed to efforts by French travel agency Jetset Equinoctial to promote travel to Rhode Island. That push, done with the help of the Providence-Warwick Conventions & Visitors Bureau, was done to coincide with the September opening of “Dan in Real Life,” filmed in Rhode Island and starring French actress Juliette Binoche.
The state might learn something from Hay, who is pushing Australia travel based on the scenes in “Australia.” Although Australia might be scenic and movie-worthy, it’s still halfway around the world, she said.
“It’s an expensive trip from the East Coast,” she added. “So you don’t get a lot of people going from Rhode Island.”
The nonstop flight from Los Angeles to Sydney is 14 hours, plus the cross-country trip. Roundtrip tickets usually cost about $2,000 and a typical two-to-three week tour runs from $10,000 to $15,000.
“It’s a big commitment. You don’t go on a trip like that for a week or 10 days,” Hay said. “You go for two, three, four weeks.” Her average client travels for about three weeks, and she designs every aspect of their trip, opting for “custom” small events.
“That is action-packed – I will have you on a trip every day,” Hay said. “I will have you on a tour all day, either snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef or going to a rain forest or doing a crocodile cruise.” •
[Editor’s note: Judith Hay is a sister of Providence Business News staff member Ellen Goodlin, who is an account manager in the PBN advertising department.]
