At Sydney's Taronga Zoo ... actors, from left, Rico Rodriguez, Sarah Hyland and Nolan Gould on February 23, 2014 Credit:Getty Images After bringing Modern Family's 80 cast, crew and family members to Australia on a specially branded "Modern Family Flyer" A380, the airline has already scored numerous publicity wins, with the cast posting Instagram pictures of the flight and a glitzy Sydney Qantas-sponsored party they attended last week. Although the party was marred by the alleged groping attack on actor Sarah Hyland outside the event, in general the hosts could not have hoped for a better outcome with Sydney in a frenzy over its visiting A-listers. Tony Webber, Qantas' former chief economist and now associate professor at Sydney University's business school, said the airline's spending could be anywhere in the region of $500,000-$1 million, a figure which "pales into insignificance" given the financial results out today. "But lots of little things produce big things in the airline business and this is one of the little things they are trying," he said.

Modern Family's Julie Bowen at the media event in Sydney, sponsored by Qantas. Credit:Getty Images As well as paparazzi shots of filming featuring backdrops of Sydney Harbour, Bondi Beach and more reaching a worldwide audience, the cast have been prolific in posting Instagram and WhoSay shots of themselves in locations such as Whitsundays and Taronga Zoo. Qantas refused to confirm the cost of hosting the production but a spokeswoman said: "Qantas provided international flights, as well as other support, around the filming of Modern Family episode in Australia as it was seen as a terrific opportunity to highlight Australia as a great holiday destination to a huge audience." She added Qantas is committed to putting Australia on "the world stage", which benefits not only the airline but Australian tourism as a whole. Tourism Australia's chief marketing officer Nick Baker said TV programs had an extensive reach long beyond the airing of the actual shows.

"It's the power of advocacy and the power of storytelling, and rather than interrupting people with what advertising can do, you can actually become part of the story. When you can embed your messages into something else as a platform, it's a really powerful way of getting to people," he said. Oprah Winfrey filmed four episodes here in 2010, bringing with her 300 audience members who were hosted across Australia. Tourism Australia and its 16 partners stumped up $5.4 million to fund the trip, of which the government agency contributed $1.8 million. Yet the following year, half of US visitors to Australia said they had been influenced to come by Oprah's show. Australia's tourist industry is worth an estimated $98.5 billion annually. Webber, who worked at Qantas at the time of Oprah's visit, said it was "a massive winner" for the airline, which gained not only increased passengers numbers but an increase in spending on "higher yield" seats in business and first class. Ellen DeGeneres' visit last year was reported to have increased inbound flights by 22 per cent, Qantas has previously said.

Tracey Vieira, Screen Queensland's recently appointed chief executive, was instrumental in brokering the deal to bring Modern Family to Australia as part of her previous Los Angeles post with AusFilm, a government-industry partnership which lobbies to bring productions here. She said negotiations began with Modern Family last August, but it was only when Qantas joined the mix, with incentives such as offsetting the cost of travelling, that the production was secured. "Qantas know their demographic and the audience for this show is the perfect demographic who can afford to, and who want to, get on a plane and travel to a location such as Australia," Ms Vieira said. "Seeing Australia through the eyes of one of these shows does actually encourage people to get on a plane, we've got the date and proof from previous shows."

She said that a 30-second ad slot during the show in the US cost in the region of $280,000 and aside from the benefits of free advertising, the show has created a boost to the local production industry. Loading Dwayne Johnson's earthquake disaster film San Andreas has just begun pre-production in Queensland with the film company claiming it is bringing 2700 jobs and $40 million to the local economy with it. Qantas is being sought for comment.