Each year Melbourne’s holds a Chinese New Year Festival, and for the Year of the Dragon things were no different, with the streets of Chinatown being blocked off on January 29 to make way for the festivities. All of the traditional Chinese New Year attractions were there…
Lion dances.
Firecrackers.
Dragon dances.
And the Dai Loong dragon procession.
However, the more profitable part of the festival are the commercial stalls: some are just selling food or drink, while others are putting on the hard sell. First up is the Commonwealth Bank trying to drum up business from the Chinese community.
An industry that wasn’t around a few years ago was mobile phone carriers: today companies like LycaMobile and Lebara promote their cheap overseas calls to many migrant communities, pitching themselves as a more convenient alternative to prepaid calling cards for those wanting to save their pennies.
As for those people with a bit more money to spend, Melbourne’s property developers are more than happy to speak to you. The most well known is Central Equity: who have spent almost 20 years trying to get Melbourne’s Chinese population to invest in their cookie cutter apartment towers located all over Southbank.
Not to be left out, “Melbourne’s Inner City Apartment Specialists” were also out looking for potential clients.
And down the road another property developer is spruiking their latest apartment complex to potential investors.
During my journey along Russell Street I found another half-dozen property developers drumming up business: since they turn up each year I am assuming they manage to chase up a bit of interest.
[…] In Australia it is common to find local property developers spruiking their latest high-rise apartment development to investors with Asian backgrounds – just look at Melbourne’s annual Chinese New Year festival. […]