Australia banking on 'Bharat Army' to boost economy

Sydney, June 5 (UNI) Australia is hoping to cash in on India's 'Bharat Army' when Dravid and Co tours Down Under later this year to boost its economy further following the recent economic boom after the 2006-07 Ashes and ODI series when England's 'Barmy Army' helped generate a hefty 317 million dollars.

According to an Impact Study conducted by Tourism Minister Fran Bailey and Cricket Australia, the 2006-07 three mobile Ashes Test Series and Commonwealth Bank ODI series generated 317 million dollars for the Australian economy and created 793 jobs.

This has prompted the Government to make the most in further strengthening its economy when Team India arrives for Test and ODI tri-series in the last week of December this year.

The research study found that more than 8,13,000 tickets were sold generating 18.7 million dollars. Besides, the series attracted about 37,000 international tourists out of whom 64 per cent came specifically for the Ashes. Once inside Australia, the tourists let their purse strings loose, spending nearly 10,500 dollars each and staying for roughly 30 days.

Hoping to repeat the success in the upcoming series against India and Sri Lanka, Minister for Small Business and Tourism Fran Bailey, said, ''Cricket provides one of Australia's strongest links with India, and through our new tourism office in Mumbai and our partnership with Cricket Australia, we intend to bowl in a tourism bonanza this coming summer.'' ''Cricket is simply marvellous for jobs and tourism. Our boys not only did a fabulous job in winning back the Ashes, but helped to create hundreds of new jobs and attract thousands of tourists to our shores,'' Bailey said.

In addition to the value created by expenditure, the study revealed that the equivalent of 793 jobs (calculated based on annual average time) were created by the two series, and that the summer of cricket also contributed over 54 million dollar to Australia's GDP.

Echoing similar views, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said, ''The 2006-07 summer of cricket provided a huge boost for the Australian economy and shows cricket is good for business in this country.'' With a bumper summer of 3 mobile Tests, Commonwealth Bank Series and KFC Twenty20 matches against India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand coming up, the Minister is alreday looking at different avenues to rake in the moolah.

UNI