A photo of a sign reading "Austria, not Australia" recently went viral online, drawing attention to the issue of destination confusion among tourists.
Nazir Afzal, a famous British lawyer, posted a photo on Twitter saying "Sorry, this is Austria, not Australia. If you need help, press this button" on October 15. Under the photo, Afzal added: "More than 100 passengers a year want to fly to Australia but end up in Austria by mistake. That's why Salzburg airport has a special counter for those who make the mistake."
A sign reading "This is Austria, not Australia" is widely believed to have been placed at an Austrian airport. Photo: Twitter/Nazir Afzal
After nearly a month of posting, Afzal's article attracted more than 2.4 million views and nearly 2,500 shares, along with more than 400 comments and 18,000 likes. The topic quickly became a "hot" topic online, attracting the attention of many tourists.
In early November, a video of tourists mistaking Austria for Australia continued to appear online, also attracting millions of views. This made many tourists believe that the warning sign was real at Salzburg airport. The incident became so famous that the airport representative had to confirm that it was just a joke. In fact, the airport does not have a support department for people who choose to vacation in Australia but mistakenly fly to Austria.
Video shared about tourists confusing Austria and Australia. Video: Tiktok
“We have never had a passenger who wanted to go to Australia but ended up in Austria,” said Susanne Buchebner, deputy director of public relations at Salzburg Airport. The widely shared sign was actually an advertising campaign run by a local company a few years ago.
Although the airport has never had a support department to help passengers who have mistaken Austria for Australia, there have been many cases of travelers being mistaken for tourist destinations around the world. According to the Sydney Morning Herald of Australia, when referring to the city of Parma, Italy, many tourists have mistaken Palma, Spain. Others have mistaken Palma, California, USA.
A traveler shared the story of his colleague booking a vacation to Salvador, a city in Brazil, but mistakenly chose to go to El Salvador, a country located in Central America.
Also according to the Sydney Morning Herald, in 2002 and 2009, there were two cases of tourists flying to Sydney, a coastal location in Nova Scotia, Canada, instead of Sydney, Australia. In 2022, a similar incident occurred when a tourist from New York, USA, after landing in Sidney, Montana, USA, discovered that he had booked the wrong ticket. The destination the customer actually wanted to go to was Sydney, Australia.
In 2021, a group of French soccer fans flew to Bucharest, Romania to watch their team play Hungary. When they arrived, they realized the match was in Budapest, Hungary, 800 kilometers away from Bucharest.
According to travel experts from CNN , mistaken destinations are very common and are not compensated by airlines because they are the passengers' fault. Therefore, the best way to avoid confusion is for travelers to carefully check their flight tickets and destinations before going to new places.
Anh Minh (According to SMH, CNN )
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