Australian Tourism’s $4m bet on oprah.

She’s a billionaire TV Star but still needs millions to make it down under for a holiday.

Victorian taxpayers are chipping in as part of a national $4 million package, including $1.5 million in federal cash and $2 million from the NSW Government to get her downunder.

Plans for Oprah's tour - dubbed Project O by local tourism insiders - have been 12 months in the making and were sparked by her interest in Baz Luhrmann's 2008 epic, Australia. It is the first time the world's most popular TV host, who has a personal wealth of more than $2.5 billion, has taken the program outside North America and she will bring 300 audience members from Chicago on the shopping jaunt too.

Aussie fans of the TV talk show queen will get their chance to be in the audience of her Sydney shows when tickets are offered in an Olympic Games-style public ballot.

Bang for buck?

So what do we get: VICTORIA has put about $500,000 in the kitty to bring billionaire TV star Oprah Winfrey to Australia, including a shopping trip to Melbourne.

Former tourism boss John Brown praised the promotion as an opportunity to match the buzz of Paul Hogan's "shrimp on the barbie" campaign in the US travel market.

A spokeswoman for the Victorian Government said Oprah's trip would provide enormous benefits to the state's tourism industry."This is an exciting opportunity to put Victoria front and centre on one of the world's most popular talk shows," she said. They would say that though wouldn't they? The Victorian State Government is currently under fire for losing $46million a year on staging the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which it also boasts as a huge benefit to the state's tourism economy........The itinerary for Oprah's visit to Melbourne remains under wraps, but she is expected to visit the city's famed laneway shops and the Great Ocean Rd.

According to show plans obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Oprah will spend nine to 10 days in Australia where she and a team of correspondents will "travel throughout the country to gather stories".

Then for three days, the audience will participate in an "Australian adventure" somewhere in the Outback. An episode of Oprah will then be filmed at the Opera House on either December 13 or 14 with two full episodes on Australia expected to air on US television in January.

The show's Sydney appearance has been secretly negotiated by the Keneally Government and Tourism Australia over the past few months.

About 450 people (production crew plus audience) will accompany Oprah to Australia. The Oprah show reaches 40 million US viewers a week and is telecast to 147 countries where it picks up another 30 million viewers a week.

Frenzy: 

In the biggest ticket scramble since the 2000 Olympics, Oprah is planning for an audience of about 3000 people for two episodes in the forecourt of the Opera House.

This will include the 300 loyal audience members, who were told at the opening show of Oprah's farewell season yesterday that they were being treated to the trip. Ticketing for the summer telecasts will be finalised by Oprah's Harpo Productions next month, with fans to log their interest online on a date to be advised.

Amid frenzied scenes on the Chicago set of her show, the TV host sent a personalised message to Australia sharing her wish list for the "dream vacation".

"Really just to see the sights, hear the sounds, taste the wine, experience everything that your country has to offer," she said.

Swapping her southern drawl with an attempted Aussie accent, she added: "I say 'cheers mate'."

Harpo producers will fly here this month on a scouting mission to confirm locations for filming, with most capital cities on the itinerary. Oprah told her audience they could look forward to sailing on Sydney Harbour, wine tasting in Margaret River or shopping in Melbourne.

Expected to make an appearance are Oprah's favourite Aussie guests, including chef Curtis Stone, gardener Jamie Durie and actor Hugh Jackman.

High Hopes:

It is hoped that this exposure will entice more visitors to Australia, coming off the back of a horrible marketing plan 'where the bloody hell are you'....almost anything seems better. However this short term idea surely can't plug the holes in the existing falling numbers and certainly won't fix the sharply rising dollar. It's unrealsitic to expect her target audience of the US to all of a sudden pack their bags amoungst a recession and fly half way across the world for a break with the exchange rate at $0.93 cents.

After the NSW spent $2billion on the Olyimpics and failed to score a Gold in the repeat tourism stakes, it seems $4million isn't too much.....

So what's your view?

Is it really worth the money?

Will Oprah at the Operah House boost tourism or is this just a feel good junket down under at our expense?

See more from the Urban Globetrotter series: Destination Australia