Why crocodile attacks boost tourism

Crocodile attacks in Australia’s Northern Territory serve to increase visitor numbers, according to university studies. According to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, Pascal Tremblay, a lecturer at Charles Darwin University, said that bookings to the Northern Territory from Germany increased in the two years after a German tourist was attacked and killed by a saltwater crocodile, or “salty”. He is quoted as saying: “It’s free publicity. The NT gets in the news. Bookings increase.” The newspaper goes on to quote on crocodile expert, Graeme Webb, as saying that crocodiles had become the Northern Territory’s icon, and that they bring “huge value” via domestic and international media coverage. He reportedly said: “That publicity leads to jobs for a couple of hundred people and generates possibly 10 to 20 million dollars in annual tourist revenue.” The Sydney Morning Herald reports that in the Northern Territory, outside the city of Darwin, salties “can be seen in almost every creek, river, estuary and beach, making it too dangerous to swim in one of the world’s hottest climates”. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd