- CANBERRA (Reuters) -- An
Australian holiday resort will hold a month-long, nude "anything goes"
party to combat an expected economic downturn, media reports said on Thursday.
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- "Tough economic times call for stiff measures,"
Tony Fox, the owner of the White Cockatoo resort in Mossman, in tropical
Queensland state, told the Courier-Mail newspaper.
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- "It will be a hedonism resort, where anything goes
for a month. It doesn't take rocket science to work out what it means,"
Fox said, naming March as the risque party month.
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- The controversial "clothes optional" resort
made headlines three years ago when police were called to end partner-swapping
parties after a swathe of public complaints.
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- "You've got to wonder what sort of people go and
why. Where is the moral code of behavior and how do you stop jealousies
and fights?" Cairns Catholic Bishop James Foley said after Fox's announcement.
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- But local regional Mayor Val Schier said she was not
opposed to the event as long as no laws were broken.
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- "People in tropical north Queensland are extraordinarily
creative," Schier said. "It is tough economic times and as long
as it is with consenting adults, then there is no problem."
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- Australia's tourism in industry is being hit hard by
global economic turmoil with official figures showing a 7.6 percent decline
in overseas visitors in September.
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- Industry leaders expect holiday bookings may drop by
up to a third in early 2009 and are planning a new international advertising
campaign to coincide with the movie "Australia" starring Oscar-winning
actress Nicole Kidman.
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- Fox said his resort was almost fully booked for the month-long
rainforest party.
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- Reporting by Rob Taylor, editing by Miral Fahmy
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