The extended, and often dysfunctional, Pritchett family is set to descend on the Whitsunday’s later this month as Queensland secures filming of the Modern Family Australia episode.
It is a coup for the state’s tourism and screen production industries with an estimated global audience of 100 million people expected to watch the episode.
Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Queensland’s destinations and encourage the show’s fans to visit our state,” Ms Stuckey said.
“Tourism and Events Queensland will work with Qantas to maximise exposure for the state’s tourism industry, leveraging the opportunity to further grow the US market and deliver a real benefit for tourism operators across Queensland.”
The show’s trip Down Under was announced in early January and follows in the footsteps of US talk shows The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Oprah Winfrey’s crew.
Both visits generated a large amount of positive PR and a boost to Australian tourism with Ellen’s visit alone showing a 22% increase in inbound flights to NSW.
Arts Minister Ian Walker said securing Queensland as the backdrop to the episode is “a testament to the LNP Government’s commitment to creating local jobs and promoting our screen and tourism industries to the world”.
“Modern Family is a hugely popular show and it’s very exciting for our tourism industry to know that places like the Great Barrier Reef and Hayman Island will be seen by millions of people right round the world,” Walker added.
Meanwhile, radio jock Kyle Sandilands revealed on-air during his KIIS 1065 breakfast program yesterday that he had been approached to play a character in Modern Family’s Australian episode.
Sandilands said he knocked the offer back because he could not be “arsed” with multiple days of filming and because acting holds no appeal for him.
Hear what he had to say in the video below.
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