I think it all has to do with money. Shippin everything to Australia for just 1 or 2 gigs is expensive. Within Europe or the US (and Japan) a lot of travel can be done on the road wich is still a lot cheaper then a zillion airplanes have to fly in.

Javier I don't want to insult you but in the countries mentioned, infrastructure is still far behind if you compare to US & Europe, isn't it?. I could be wrong here though, but that's the only reason I can think of not going to South-America on a regular tour and visit 4-6 countries...

Same goes for Scandanavia in Europe, it's just a bit too far away from for example Holland / Germany / Switserland.

Untill begin/mid 90's there was still a lot of added-value to go to those places, internet not being that huge back then. It was the only way to really reach those people in those countries, a concert automatically given extra promotion. Nowadays I can imagine that added value to be a lot less. (added value = how many extra cd's will be sold due to concert)

Cost too much. Me thinking they have a budget relating to costs wich they will follow by, ie maximum cost per show or whatever. And no matter how prices are, everybody above that budget is extra margin.

I'm very curious about a p&l acount for a tour only (or projectwise, per show)