South Australian Tourism Commission, $86,193,000

Membership:

Ms Hildyard substituted for Mr Odenwalder.

Departmental Advisers:

Mr R. Harrex, Chief Executive Officer, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Ms H. Rasheed, General Manager, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Ms S. Rozokos, Chief Financial Officer, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Mr B. Hill, Executive Director, Marketing, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Mr N. Jones, Executive Director, Destination Development, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Mr A. Kirchner, Chief Executive Officer, Adelaide Venue Management Authority.

Ms M. Hannaford, Chief Financial Officer, Adelaide Venue Management Authority.

The CHAIR: I open up the South Australian Tourism Commission and Adelaide Venue Management Authority. The minister appearing is the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Estimated payments for Department for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment and the SATC. I declare the proposed payments open for examination. I refer members to Agency Statements, Volume 4. Minister, if you have an opening statement feel free to make it.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I do have an opening statement. Thank you for the opportunity to make some brief comments rounding out another great year for the South Australian visitor economy but, more importantly, opening to what I believe will be an even more exciting chapter. It is great to welcome the great team from the South Australian Tourism Commission, and I really do thank them for their hard work in supporting the industry and the state, as well as me as a relatively new minister. I thank them for what they have done to support the government and South Australia.

We all know that we are a particularly small state and that we need to play to our strengths. The Joyce review identified that tourism is indeed one of those strengths, and through the development of the soon-to-be-released Visitor Economy Sector Plan 2030 we now have an even better picture of what that sector could mean to the state's economy in a decade's time. In the previous session I covered off on the ambitious economic target of this government. It is a target that will be underpinned by our growth agenda, a working document that will be the cornerstone of everything we do to support our industries and to build our economy.

First, to the visitor economy. This is the core focus of the South Australian Tourism Commission and every aspect of what we do, whether it be events or marketing. It is the metric by which we measure every government investment in tourism: will it grow the visitor economy, and by how much? The reason I make this point is that our commitment to economic growth and the investment it necessitates is in the context of the state budget, which is very much under repair and which has had the significant blow of a $2 billion in GST write down.

However, we are not a government to shy away from a challenge, but what this does mean is that we need to return to our core focus of growing our visitor economy. This has also meant some tough decisions have had to be made. The Adelaide Fashion Festival is an event that has been held in high regard by its target audience with a great industry development element, but it simply did not deliver the visitation and tourism spend that our tourism and investment needs to be driven by.

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival is a fantastic event for families and motoring enthusiasts and it certainly has some potential, but again we have had to look at it through the visitor economy lens. We hope that as it grows and as the budget improves there may be an opportunity to provide some support. The state budget this government has delivered comprises marketing, events and programs that will derive the maximum visitor economy output.

Both the current state tourism plan and the soon to be released 2030 plan galvanise marketing as the real hero in driving visitation. I am exceptionally proud of the award-winning campaigns being delivered by the SATC, which really challenge perceptions and expectations of South Australia and its wealth of tourism offerings. That is why, despite budget pressures, we have made a long-term commitment to maintaining the marketing budget through an additional $10 million per year over the forward estimates. The Tourism Commission is now able to move forward with the certainty of a significant base level of funding, which we will certainly look to build upon in future budgets.

We also pumped an extra $3 million into the winter campaign, which is tracking very well. I hope to have a little opportunity to speak a bit more about that later on. Yes, we are up against it a bit with international tourism icons like the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru. We are not really an international major aviation hub, but we have some other great strengths. We need to play to them, and the great creativity of our recent campaigns is helping to cut through.

Of course, some of our events are the envy of the rest of the world. The Santos Tour Down Under, the biggest cycling event in the world outside of Europe, is I think something that we as a state should be particularly proud of. It is one of those events that has transcended both sides of government. I think it is probably the event that shares the most bipartisan support. It is fabulous to see that it is up 11 per cent from last year, with a benefit of $70.7 million. The benefit from the Superloop Adelaide 500 went up from $41.9 million last year to $46 million this year, which is again a pretty good increase.

Tasting Australia drew an additional 10,000 punters along with a record 64,000 people visiting, generating nearly $5.5 million. As I commented earlier, I think we should be particularly thankful that, when Tasting Australia was created, I cannot remember whether it was minister Hall or minister Ingerson but whichever one it was at the time chose the name Tasting Australia so that we have the rights to that name. It may have been by design, or it may just have been a fluke, but I think we should be proud of the fact that we own the title Tasting Australia. These events are almost our bread and butter, and we will continue to support and maximise the economic benefit we get from them.

We are always looking for new things and there are some good things happening. In this coming year will host the World Routes conference, which is the global airline conference, which I think will be an opportunity for us to showcase our great state to a number of potential airlines. There has been some commentary in the media recently around potential new airline partners. Next year, we have the NRL State of Origin, the Olympic swimming trials and, a sport close to my heart, the men's and women's T20 Cricket World Cup. That will be something to look forward to.

We have expanded our bid fund, so we have been able to lock away some other exciting new instalments on the events calendar, including the 2019 Australian Open Water Swimming Championships, three rounds of the Asian Le Mans Series from 2020 to 2022 at The Bend Motorsport Park and also the ATP and Women's Tennis Association internationals to be held at the soon to be freshened up and redeveloped Memorial Drive. I think bringing world-class tennis back to South Australia will be something that the community will love, but it also helps put South Australia back on the map.

Besides leisure events, there have also been several business events secured. What is fantastic is that the government's move to expand this fund to regional events has activated regional venues and taken business tourism dollars outside the city. We know that regional events are an excellent way to disperse visitors from the city and to keep them in our beautiful regions for a few extra days. The government remains committed to the Regional Events and Festivals fund, which has supported some really fantastic new and exciting events.

The great work that is being done to promote and showcase our state and activate the city and regions with events is being validated by private investment. I have been heartened by the demonstration of investor confidence in our tourism sector as our accommodation pipeline strengthens. Major international brands have been announced, including the Westin Hotel, the Sofitel, the Crowne Plaza and the Langham Hotel Group. These iconic international brands will increase Adelaide's international reputation and destination appeal.

There is also regional accommodation of scale in the pipeline, such as the recently announced $40 million Wyndham Hotel at Victor Harbor. This is fantastic, particularly given our efforts to drive conferences and business events into our regions. Major investment in projects like the Monarto Zoo are very exciting and a great opportunity for both the state and federal governments to partner on projects of scale that will be huge drawcards for interstate and international visitors alike.

This government has a vision and a plan for long-term, sustained economic growth. While short-term fluctuations in statistics cannot be ignored, they certainly should not obstruct our strategic vision. What is abundantly clear is our visitor economy is growing, we are on track to hit our target of $8 billion by 2020 and there is huge potential for growth beyond that. We know that international visitors are taking shorter trips and visiting fewer states. In turn, smaller states like South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania have all seen a recent decline in international visitations.

On the back of record expenditure of interstate visitors, we have recently welcomed the news that South Australia's visitor economy has hit an all-time high of $7.2 billion. I repeat that, Mr Chairman: an all-time high of $7.2 billion. Given that some of our members—Mr Hughes and all three of the government members—are from the regions, it is really important to note that 43¢ of every one of those dollars is being spent in South Australia's regions; so 43¢ of that $7.2 billion. It is a great endorsement of our unique tourism assets.

The industry is echoing these results with reports of strong airline passenger loads and many operators are receiving record bookings and intense levels of visitor activity over the summer. The SATC is continuously interrogating the figures and reviewing and refocusing its strategies to suit. While I am absolutely thrilled about the $7.2 billion, there is a lot of hard work to be done and undoubtedly there will be some short-term peaks and troughs to be navigated as we charge towards our $8 billion target and 10,000 additional jobs for the sector.

So our government is excited about the tourism sector. We want to see our 18,000 tour operators grow and thrive. We want investment in tourism, which capitalises on the assets we already have, but also brings new products and experiences to life. Our events are delivering a greater economic benefit than ever before, and our marketing campaigns are captivating prospective travellers and convincing them to book and spend at unprecedented levels.

The upcoming 2030 sector plan, an industry-led plan—and the team from the Tourism Commission have consulted widely with industry—will officially set a 2030 target close to $13 billion, of $12.8 billion for the visitor economy. For that very reason, this government is unashamedly focusing its investment on activities that will grow the visitor economy in line with that target.

The CHAIR: If I could just add for the record: you have mentioned former minister Hall twice. Nothing was left by chance; I am sure it was by design that it was called Tasting Australia.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I am sure it was.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 108. Will the SATC undertake any marketing activity in support of the Adelaide Oval hotel?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I thank the honourable member for her question. The SATC markets South Australia as a great destination. As you have seen, they do not market particular individual hotels. Some of our regional assets may get an occasional little focus when we are focusing on a particular region. I would be pretty confident to say that there is no actual marketing for the Adelaide Oval hotel. We will go out and market South Australia and Adelaide as a world-class destination. The individual hotels then jostle for people to come and stay with them.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 108. How much of this funding is aimed at traditional media buying?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: What funding—can you be more explicit?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Program 3: Tourism Marketing.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Can you repeat question?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Looking at the program of the net cost of services summary, how much of this funding is aimed at traditional media buying?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think you have to understand that traditional media is changing. The Tourism Commission is quite nimble. It always looks to get the best bang for the buck, shall we say, so I do not think you can talk about particular traditional media. What is traditional media? Where do you get your information? There are different demographics and they get their information in different ways. I would suggest that to say, 'What do you spend on traditional media? What do you spend on digital?' is really something that we should not encumber the Tourism Commission with restrictions around them.

In the domestic marketing budget of $11,324,000, interstate media was about $3.3 million, intrastate was $1.809 million and then there are the production fees. We had the oyster winter campaign on top of that again. Traditional media is to look at the modern world: my children will tell me they found something on the news and I say, 'You haven't picked up a paper and you haven't watched the TV news, so how do you know that?' Well, they got it through a different source. So I think we need to make sure that we leverage the opportunity on every possible media platform there is.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Minister, are you able to come back to me and provide me with information about the division of funding across the whole-of-tourism marketing—what we would call traditional media buying and digital campaigns—or the division that you call different aspects of marketing? Are you able to provide me with that breakdown?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: We can probably take that on notice. We live in a modern world and things will be changing. What was traditional media 10 years ago, in 10 years' time traditional media will be a mobile device and that digital activation, I suspect. We can bring that information back for you.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Minister, I am not arguing with you: I am just asking for a breakdown of the division. How much of this funding is used to collaborate with social media influencers?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think there are a range of campaigns in which we use social media influencers. I can, perhaps, give you some information here. The SATC is being seen nationally as an industry leader in social influencers and destination marketing. In 2018-19, the SATC social media and influencers activity drove 148,026 visitations to southaustralia.com, which is a 40 per cent increase year on year. These visits resulted in 11,643 leads to South Australian tourism businesses via their Australian Tourism Data Warehouse Listings, a 727 per cent increase year on year.

In 2018-19, the SATC also began tracking the volume of social leads generated by the SATC Instagram story activity, that is the number of people who view a South Australian tourism operator's profile due to being featured on SATC activity. Preliminary results show that 135,000 leads were sent to various local tourism operators' Instagram accounts from the SATC Instagram story activity. The SATC's Instagram stories are an effective way to show and tell the experience of tourism businesses firsthand, with the benefit of being able to track direct and measurable outcomes being featured.

The SATC social media accounts have grown from 1.796 million to 2.13 million fans, which is a 16 per cent increase in 2018-19. The SATC engage five social media influencers to assist with extending the reach and engagement of its domestic marketing brand campaigns. The feedback from South Australian tourism operators featured in this campaign has been very positive. For example, Maxwell Wines reported that the SATC activity resulted in its social account growing by 700 followers and generated several direct inquiries from businesses including from a luxury travel agent.

In June 2019, SATC won a Mumbrella award for the best social idea of the year, due to its Tell Us Where campaign, which ran in September 2018. In 2018-19, the SATC had allocated a budget of around $316,000 for social media marketing content and creation and influencer activity. You can see that it is a reasonably cost-effective way of getting significant reach into the market.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: How does SATC decide which Instagram models will give us the best return on investment for the South Australian taxpayer? How is that decision made?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I might actually flick to Rodney to answer that, if he would like, because you and I are both hardworking politicians but we are not marketers. I think we should leave that to the experts, so I will ask Rodney to explain that. Thank you, Rodney.

Mr HARREX: In terms of our marketing activity, it is about the consumer; so who is our target audience, who are the consumers that we are actually trying to influence to make a decision to travel to South Australia? That is really what decides what media, whether it is traditional media, whether is digital media, the social influencers that we target. It all comes down to who represents the best opportunity to influence consumers to make a decision to travel. It is about identifying those influencers that have the greatest impact.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: With the actual individual influencers, is there a theme of what we look for them to be or a certain demographic? How are you making a decision about that person? For example, in the past you have chosen a very significant Chinese icon in the cinemas to be a lead person. I am just interested—I do not have a lot of knowledge of Instagram models or followers. Is there a different level that you are looking at? What are the characteristics that you are looking for in this Instagram model?

Mr HARREX: Again, it ultimately—

The CHAIR: Point of order, member for Ramsay, minister and Mr Harrex: all questions are to go through the minister, and if the minster chooses to seek advice from his advisers and provide an answer back to the committee that is how we will proceed.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I probably can even answer that, and I will attempt it, and if Mr Harrex thinks I have not quite got it right—but I think it is based a lot on research as to what is our target audience. Is there a group we are missing out on? I know that there was a group of recent influencers in the 20 to 40 age group of young women.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Sorry, what age group?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: About 20 to 40, I think, in that age group. I remember, not that I want to disclose too much of my private life here, but it was always my wife who made the call as to where we went on holidays. No matter what good idea I came up with, if she did not want to go we did not go.

So I suspect that if you look at it in the context of them being a demographic of people who are usually the ones who make the decisions on where to travel, the target audience is based on research looking at how we can pitch what we have to offer, and for that demographic of both men and women who are upwardly mobile and quite happy to travel around, Adelaide for a weekend destination is a perfect place to come and enjoy a glass of wine and some food. There is a whole bunch of opportunities. I think it is based pretty much on research as to the target group that we are after.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Minister, have all of our Instagram models paid for by the South Australian taxpayer been women?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I beg your pardon?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Are they all women? Are they all young women?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: No. It is a whole range of different people. With our touring routes, we look at families, we look at four-wheel driving. There is a whole range of experiences. So the actual activity and the choice of influencers is based on the target audience. Huang Xiamoning, the Chinese influencer, I mean, clearly he is a movie star in China. So, again, it is having somebody who is on the big screens in China saying, 'Hey, how good is Australia with the koala and the oysters,' and all the gear that he did. It is about making sure that we are continually pitching to the demographic we want to travel, whether it is mums and dads, whether it is young professionals, whether it is Chinese or other overseas people.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: How many social media influencers were engaged to have a collaborative partnership with SATC in 2018-19, and how many are planned for 2019-20?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think I will maybe take that figure on notice. Only about 3 per cent of our media budget is spent on influencers. It is a relatively small amount, but it certainly is a growing part of the modern communication plan—influencers—and if they are talking about your product, whether it is a tourism product or some other product that a company manufactures—I notice that R.M. Williams has Hugh Jackman now as their international ambassador. I am sure that Eddie Hughes or Adrian Pederick wears R.M. Williams but you just do not quite have the reach of Hugh Jackman.

Mr HUGHES: Doc Martens.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Yes, Doc Martens—so it is about having the right people.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Minister, recently I understand there were some changes in this ever-evolving digital technology space where 'likes' were not going to be available, or follower numbers. Is that concerning to you, if that is one of the motivations of us employing or having a relationship, having a partnership with these Instagram models, that it is a constantly changing atmosphere and where we cannot tell how many likes they have any more or how many followers?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think publicly it is not available. I am probably a little more—I do not do that much on Instagram, I would have to say as well, but I still think there will be some data available but certainly the public display of that is not on the public page. We work at the front line of best practice digital marketing, especially with destination marketing within the organisation, so we are always using technology to execute digital activity that is always on capacity. So this strategy drives visitation to the consumer website SouthAustralia.com and generates leads and referrals to South Australian tourism operators and travel industry partners.

In 2018-19, SouthAustralia.com generated a record total of 661,133 leads and referrals to South Australian tourism operators through the ATDW and industry partners, which is a 53 per cent increase. South Australian tourism businesses can register their products on ATDW which allows their products to be featured on SouthAustralia.com and receive leads and referral through SATC's digital marketing activity.

The ATDW leads allow South Australian businesses to sell direct to the consumer, reducing their reliance on multinational online travel agents who charge commissions and, therefore, keeping tourism expenditure in South Australia. The use of digital marketing technology has significantly improved media efficiency with SATC's total digital media cost per lead decreasing by 44 per cent year on year, so it is becoming an increasingly sensible way to spend our money.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Sensible but somewhat changing on a regular basis.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: If you have it at $7.2 billion—it is the first time we have ever had a seven on the figure. I congratulate the team on that. I think it is fair to say that there was a target of $8 billion set by the former government, so I do not shy away from the fact that it was a target we inherited. Nonetheless, this is the first time we have made $7 billion—$7.2 billion; not just a bare $7 billion. Clearly, the team are doing something right. If it is a changing environment and if it is new technology, Rodney and the team, and Brent, my head of marketing, do a great job to make sure that we are at the cutting edge of new technology, so I applaud them for that.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Moving on to Budget Paper 5, page 87, departmental efficiency measures. How will the SATC realise these cuts? What programs will be affected?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: As we have made very clear, we wanted to focus on continuing our investment in marketing, and clearly that is $7.2 billion. In tough times, we had this $2 billion writedown in GST, which I do not think anybody saw coming. It is unfortunate, but the SATC is required to find additional savings measures of $3 million in 2019 as part of the process and ongoing over the forward estimates.

The SATC plans to achieve these saving measures by implementing a number of specific measures, such as ceasing to stage the Adelaide Fashion Festival, electing not to renew our contract with the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, although I was very pleased to read and understand recently that it will be staged at The Bend this year in the member's local electorate, which is great, because it is one of those events that I think had some potential but it was just challenging to fund it. There were some reduced marketing activities and the implementation of a number of corporate services and operational efficiencies, including some staff reductions.

The SATC is on track to achieve its current savings target of $3.7 million for 2019-20. This includes a new savings measure of $3 million and the pre-existing measures of $0.7 million. The SATC plans to achieve the pre-existing savings measures of $0.7 million by utilising funding that was allocated to a one-off project that occurred in 2018-19 which will not continue in the next year, including the cessation of SATC's signage and wi-fi project. There are no unforeseen issues in implementing the 2019-20 savings.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Now that I have got this clear about this efficiency, it is actually $12.7 million over the next four years that you will have to find. Does the government think that this is the right time to be cutting the tourism budget? This is a significant cut—$12.7 million. You have just said that there is $0.7 million from last year, plus $3 million in 2019-20, $3 million in 2020-21, $3 million in 2021-22, and another $3 million in 2022-23. This is significant. Is this the right time for you to have to deal with these cuts?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: We are confident of the investment we are making in ongoing marketing. From everything that we learned from the work that the regional chairs did with the Regional Visitor Strategy and the consultation they did, all the consultation I did with the 19 meet-the-minister meetings last year, and that Rodney and the team did with the 2030 plan, the number one aspect that the industry wants to do is continue to invest in marketing. That is why we committed that extra money across the forward estimates.

Yes, the cumulative total over the forward estimates could be as much as $12 million, but this is because GST revenue shrunk. I am optimistic now we have some certainty in the federal government—naturally, I am delighted the team I support won—and the fact that there was at least a strong decision at the federal government level. That will alleviate some of the uncertainty in the national economy. I will be very surprised to see if the GST does not somewhat improve the $2 billion over the forward estimates. I will certainly be going into bat to say that tourism is something we need to continue to invest more in, not less in, but right at the moment we have to deal with the circumstances that are confronting us.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Minister, with the best endeavours, I hope that the $12.7 million in cuts do not have to be realised.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think it is important, shadow minister, to look at the $7.2 billion. In any of the changes in the budget last year, we have been able to continue to grow the visitor economy. I think it is a credit to the team that we have gone through some difficult decisions but we are still on track to get to $8 billion.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: That $11 million taken out previously was tough. One of the things I want to clarify is from the same budget paper: Budget Paper 5, page 87. We have seen a commitment from you to not cut marketing funding over the forward estimates. Is that commitment correct, that marketing will not be cut over the forward estimates?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Can you repeat the question, especially the—

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: You made an announcement that you will continue the additional marketing for $10 million a year over the forward estimates. Is that a commitment that marketing will not be cut?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: That initial $10 million was some money, I think, that the former government had provided extra, but it was not funded across the forward estimates. So when we got to the election, there was funding for one more year.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: It was funded for 2019-20.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: It was funded for one more year in the previous budget, and then we said, 'Right, this is important. Let's give the sector some certainty that that extra $10 million is there over the forward estimates, for the next four years.' So that commitment is there. Of course, we have had the winter campaign that has been funded through the Economic and Business Growth Fund. I think that has provided some very good responses. I would be very confident that government will look favourably upon some other programs as well. It makes sense: if we get a good return on our investment, we will do it.

What we wanted to do was send a message to the industry that, despite the $2 billion writedown in GST and tough times, we are committed to, if you like, the base funding of marketing over the forward estimates. When the budget improves, there will be opportunities to try to invest more money in marketing. A lot of these people in the 18,000 businesses are the mums and dads of this sector. Many of them are not big international corporate players, they are people who work seven days a week and invest in growing their business, cellar door, hotel or restaurant. They need to know that the government has a level of base funding and marketing that will carry right through over the forward estimates.

I think it is only fair to the sector. We want them to do the heavy lifting of $8 billion by 2020 and $12.8 billion by 2030, so we need to show some commitment. So that is what I mean when I say that we are not going to be cutting it. That is the base, and we are all optimistic that the GST will rebound somewhat.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Will funding for the winter rewards campaign continue?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: One of the great things about this program and this little event that the SATC put up is that it gives us a chance to measure it. Often, in these things, we need $10 million or $20 million for marketing, and it is hard to measure it. This one has all the data around the winter campaign, and I have some information here that I might share with you. It is being measured, and that is a great opportunity for the government to actually have a look at our investment of $3 million and what it might get.

We launched a domestic winter campaign to highlight South Australia as a winter destination, showcasing a range of tourism products that are perfect to experience during our cooler months. The campaign activity includes television commercials as well as outdoor and digital advertising and utilises content from the 'five days of wonder' film shoot, which occurred last August. The marketing campaign has achieved the following results during the period from 8 March to 17 July (so this information is a fortnight old now):

1,711,382 visits to southaustralia.com by Australians, which is a 73 per cent increase.

285,229 Australian Tourism Data Warehouse leads, which is a 177 per cent increase, year-on-year.

14,583 travel partners leads to organisations such as the RAA, SeaLink and Discover Australia Holidays. That is 10 times the size of last year's numbers.

A 25 per cent growth, year-on-year, for some key partners, including Accor. There were 3,814 hotel rooms booked during the campaign.

All-time booking records for the Hahndorf Resort.

Airline partners are experiencing a between 19 per cent and 45 per cent growth in the Melbourne to Adelaide route and the Brisbane to Adelaide route, respectively.

In June 2019, to align with and support the campaign, the SATC—I will continue with this for you because I think it adds some value to your questions about influencers—engaged 10 of Australia's top influencers in key winter regions. The campaign was utilised to drive consumer awareness around winter in South Australia, specifically targeting eastern seaboard females aged between 20 and 44 who typically consume media via social channels. The winter influencer campaign expects to achieve a more than 5.7 million audience reach and more than 7 million impressions.

So you can see that there are some particular benefits in that campaign. I could use more time and read another page, but I will not will not do that because I think you have got the picture that it has been particularly effective. I think once the campaign is wrapped up, we will get a report from the SATC as to the actual effectiveness. I think it is the first time we have run a really dedicated winter campaign. I think Darwin might do one, but it is a totally different market. So, yes, it has been, so far, pretty successful.

The CHAIR: The member for Kavel is seeking the call.

Mr CREGAN: Can I take the minister to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 117, domestic marketing, and we have touched on some of these matters. Can the minister provide an update on how domestic marketing activity has influenced South Australia's visitor numbers in recent years?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Of course. I am very happy. I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in the tourism sector. He represents the Adelaide Hills, one of our great destinations. The Marshall Liberal government welcomed the March 2019 National Visitor Survey, which confirms that the tourism industry continues to grow. Expenditure, as I said earlier, has now reached $7.2 billion, which is above the required waypoint of $7.1 billion, so we are $100 million above the target to achieve our $8 billion by 2020.

Both interstate and intrastate expenditure has expanded strongly and reached record highs. Interstate alone is up by 23 per cent to a record high of $2.5 billion, which is well ahead of the national average. In terms of interstate and overnight visitors, there was a 15 per cent increase to $2.8 billion, driven largely by Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. It is fantastic to see particularly the Eastern States, who are tough competition in the international market, themselves paying more attention to South Australia as a destination. We are now tracking beyond the waypoint of $2.3 billion for interstate visitors.

For the first time, South Australia reached the number one spot as the state associated with good food and wine, at 57 per cent, overtaking Victoria for the first time at 56 per cent. I think that is a real credit to our food producers. We have obviously had the number one wine destination, but I think the fact that we have now done this underscores our credentials as a food and wine destination, with South Australia leading the nation in the association, with our incredible wineries and great wine regions and with the latest results showing 70 per cent of people from outside of South Australia agreeing with the statement, well above our nearest rival, at 45 per cent.

With wine continuing to be one of our great exports, our wineries are one of the strongest attractants to our regions. Looking at the combined national and international statistics, there has been strong growth in regional South Australia, up 15 per cent to $3.1 billion, and the domestic component is now at $2.9 billion. In fact, the overall domestic growth has been driven by expenditure in regional South Australia. As I said earlier, 43¢ of every tourism dollar generated in this state is spent in our region, which again, I think, is really a particular thrill for me.

It is about where jobs are created. As I think we have learnt, regional tourism is one of the few industries left in regional South Australia that is labour-intensive. Every other industry, whether it is mining, farming, manufacturing, fishing—it does not matter what it is—uses more and more technology and more and more machinery; they have to to be efficient.

But hospitality and tourism is the one that is continually seen as being labour-intensive and a way to almost, if you like, underpin some of our regional communities. People work there, the kids are at school, they play in the footy team; they make everything more viable. So I think the value of tourism, while it is fantastic to have the 43¢ it is actually the people who live there that add to the vibrancy of our communities.

The latest data shows that tourism reached a record high for a wide range of measures: overall expenditure and visitors; interstate overnight expenditure and visits and nights; intrastate overnight expenditure and visits, but not nights; overall number of day trips in South Australia, but not expenditure on those trips (that record was in 2018); overall expenditure and visits to Adelaide; and overall expenditure and visits and nights to our regions.

Industry have supported these results, as I said, with strong airline passenger loads and many operators receiving record bookings and visitor activity over the summer. This wonderful growth has been underpinned by SATC's award-winning campaigns targeting these consumers, with significant activity coinciding with those campaigns. The work has been largely focused on confirming potential leads to southustralia.com to actual bookings.

I know this is repeating some of the stats but I think it is important to repeat them: to March 2019 the leads from southaustralia.com through to the South Australian tourism operators grew 113 per cent from 233,000 to 495,000. The member for Kavel will also be pleased to note that the Adelaide Hills currently welcomes some 179,000 overnight visitors to the region, and these visitors stayed a number of 704 nights, spending $66 million in his region.

Mr CREGAN: Very welcome.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: On top of this, the region has 66,000 domestic daytrippers who spend $89 million in the region. Due to its close proximity to Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills it welcomes over 170,000 international daytrip visitors each year. So, while the news on the numbers is positive, the government recognises that there is still a great deal of work to be done to move towards the $8 billion target by 2020. As I said, we will soon be releasing the 2030 plan and we look forward to it. As I said, it is an industry plan with industry support and we look forward to the ongoing focus on growing our visitor economy.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 108, looking at the program net cost of services summary: can you confirm that total funding for regional cooperative marketing and local contact officers for regional tourism organisations will be funded over the forward estimates?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think I was asked some questions the other day and there was some confusion in the Legislative Council in relation to that. We provide funding to each of the 11 tourism organisations as a contribution towards employment of a local contact person responsible for providing a range of services. These services includes PR and familiarisation supports, communication to the industry, providing advice to regional operators and the SATC for its work on behalf of the regions, and identifying and implementing projects agreed of a strategic significance.

The SATC hosts a range of meetings for the regional tourism chairs forum and with regional tourism managers. The communication is vital to ensure the close cooperation to achieve strategic outcomes for regional South Australia. The SATC provided funding to each of those regions and has been committed to it for the three years 2017 through to 2020, and is indexed to CPI. In 2018-19 the SATC provided $46,818 in funding to reach regional tourism organisation, and in 2019-20 the SATC will provide each regional tourism organisation with $47,988.

You can see that that is funded across for this year and we will continue to invest in the regions. I do not see any reason why we would not continue to fund it, but we have to make sure that we are continually getting the right activities. It works really well and I cannot see any reason why we would not be funding it across the forward estimates. The regional consumer marketing fund I think in 2019-20 is about $220,000 and it has worked well and we will continue to fund it.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I have to say that that is quite disappointing because today I was hoping that you would confirm that across the forward—

Mr CREGAN: Point of order, Mr Chair.

The CHAIR: Yes, member for Kavel.

Mr CREGAN: Standing order 109, no argument in questions.

The CHAIR: Indeed. I will uphold that point of order.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I am sorry, I did not hear the point of order.

The CHAIR: The point of order was debate.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I will reiterate my question. Can I clarify, as per the answer that you gave, that you cannot commit at this point to fund over the forward estimates, as articulated in the budget, the funding for regional tourism organisations?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think the honourable member needs to understand that we funded them this year and, as I said in my response, I cannot see any reason why we would not fund them across the forward estimates. They provide a great network and I have huge respect for the work that they do and I could not see a set of circumstances where we would not be funding them.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: But I will clarify your answer: that at this point the funding ceases in 2019-20, on 30 June 2020.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: And my response is that I cannot see a set of circumstances where we would not continue with that funding.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: What program or sub-program in the budget do these projects fall under?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: It is under Program 1: Tourism Development, sub-program 1.1.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: My understanding is, and can I get you to clarify it, that these agreements previously have been multiyear agreements? I think you said it was a three-year agreement previously.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The current agreement is a three-year one. I am not sure what length previous agreements were.

The CHAIR: The member for Hammond is seeking the call.

Mr PEDERICK: Thank you, Chair.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Yes; I am very serious. I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4—

An honourable member interjecting:

The CHAIR: Order! Every member of the committee, indeed every member of the parliament, is entitled to ask a question of the minister. This is not opposition estimates, this is parliamentary estimates, and as far as I am aware the member for Hammond is a member of parliament. Member for Hammond.

Mr Hughes interjecting:

The CHAIR: Order, member for Giles! Cut that out.

Mr PEDERICK: Thank you for clarifying that, sir. I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 185, administered items for the Department of Treasury and Finance, and the Adelaide Venue Management Corporation estimated result for 2018-19. Can the minister please provide detail around the Adelaide Venue Management Corporation's performance highlights for the financial year?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in the Adelaide Venue Management Corporation. It is interesting that the member for Mawson asked, I think, one question last year to the Adelaide Venue Management Authority: had they ever had any questions. They said, 'No.' That was the first question in 13 years.

If I can, I invite Mr Anthony Kirchner, the chief executive, to respond to this question. I thank him for his tireless, hard work in running these facilities the way he does for the great people of South Australia.

Mr KIRCHNER: Thank you, minister. It is a great thrill to be asked this question, and I thank the member for Hammond for doing so. Adelaide Venue Management, as I am sure the member for Hammond is aware, is responsible for the management of the Adelaide Convention Centre, the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and Coopers Stadium. It achieved a gross operating profit in 2018-19 of $23.4 million and a net operating profit of $9.6 million. It returned a dividend to government of $1.6 million. We are very proud to employ more than 950 South Australians, including 33 Indigenous employees.

The Adelaide Convention Centre had a record year in 2018-19, hosting 775 events, including 70 major international and national conferences. Some of the higher profile and larger conferences included the Australian Dental Congress, the Land Forces congress, the Australasian Diabetes Congress and the Association of Superannuation Funds Conference amongst many, many others. In total, the Adelaide Convention Centre attracted over 31,000 international and interstate visitors, delivering more than 113,000 bed nights to local hotels.

These high-yielding delegates were also very hungry. The Adelaide Convention Centre purchased over $4.6 million of food and beverages from local suppliers, including 80 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables, more than 57 tonnes of beef, chicken, lamb and pork, two tonnes of prawns, 30,000 oysters, 80,000 litres of beer and cider, and 40,000 bottles of wine—members on our right are probably thinking it is a member for Mawson's Christmas party, but I can assure you it is not—

Members interjecting:

The CHAIR: Order!

Mr KIRCHNER: It also included 60,000 litres of bottled water and 24,000 litres of orange juice. We should all be very proud of the Adelaide Convention Centre. This year it became the first convention centre in the world to be awarded EarthCheck Platinum Certification in recognition of its leadership and commitment to operating a venue in an environmentally sustainable manner. In addition, the centre received a national award for best banqueting and catering, as awarded by peak industry body Meetings and Events Australia.

Looking forward, the Adelaide Convention Centre is on track for another record year in 2019-20. It also has a record level of future business on its books, with more than 111 conferences, including 29 conferences with more than thousand plus delegates expected to attend.

The Adelaide Entertainment Centre has also had a great year, having had its second highest number of performance days since opening back in 1991. Some of the bigger names to come through included Pink, Katy Perry, Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar, Kylie, Michael McIntyre, and Jim Jefferies amongst many, many others. We are, of course, very excited to have Hugh Jackman in town next week for five sell-out performances.

The member may also be aware that the Adelaide 36ers shall call the Adelaide Convention Centre home for the first time in 2019. They will play their first game of the upcoming NBL season on Saturday 19 October against the Brisbane Bullets, and we look forward to welcoming all the Adelaide 36ers fans on that night.

The CHAIR: Thank you, Mr Kirchner. Just for the record, it is inappropriate to reflect on any member of this house. Please, in future do not do that. Member for Ramsay.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, program 1, page 112. We are looking at the reduction in the destination development in the sub-program. There is a reduction of $942,000 of budgeted expense for 2019-20 towards destination development. What specific activity will be affected by this cut in funding?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: What budget line was that? Can you repeat that, please?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Program 1, page 112, looking at the destination development.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will just get the details for you. The decrease of $942,000 in net cost is primarily due to a contractual arrangement to provide passenger terminal access to South Australia. So it is the reduction in funding of one-off projects such as signage and the wi-fi projects, implementations of saving measures and a decrease in income received from cooperative activities where participation and contributions from partners are received as revenues.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Previously, you received money that flowed in from partners; is that correct?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: That is my understanding, yes, for some of it, and some projects like the wi-fi and signage were ceasing.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Was that project planned to continue? Obviously, 60 wi-fi spots were announced. It is something you did when you were very new as minister. Have you cut that program back?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think the 60 are complete now.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: So it has come to the conclusion?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: We have installed the 60. I think there is some evaluation being done on how effective they are. I was only recently in Hahndorf, and I noticed some people clustered around the hotspot with their mobile devices. That was a project done in partnership with Telstra. It was to do 60, in some pretty remote locations as well, and the project is complete.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Is there a separate international flight attraction budget line?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Not in tourism. We are continually looking for opportunities for new international partners. There has been ventilated in the media recently a range of potential opportunities. As you would be aware as a former minister, some of those things are multiyear quite significant investments with marketing. There is a whole range of activities. We do not have an ongoing budget line for that, but if we were fortunate enough to secure a new international partner, then clearly the funding would be made available for that to happen.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Perhaps the Economic and Business Growth Fund.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Well, you never know. The tourism sector is one of our key sectors identified in the Joyce review, and the Economic and Business Growth Fund is clearly designed to support our key sectors. I am glad you have highlighted that to me. That would be an excellent source of funds. I will see whether the Treasurer shares your view—that would be interesting—but, again, Nick Jones, Rodney and the team are constantly talking to airline partners.

We have seen great growth in some of the airlines that we have had. China Southern was the most recent one where we have had large numbers. It has been a success. It went from three flights a week to daily over the recent summer and provided excellent service. I think there is a track record of what we can achieve if we make good investment in airlines.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Looking at the same program but on page 113, how much funding is allocated to TiCSA in their recently signed agreement?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will get the exact details. TiCSA are a good organisation. From very early in my time as the shadow minister, I thought that the tourism industry council as they were know then, now TiCSA, played an important role. You must have strong industry associations. I think it is good for a vibrant industry to have a group that will stand up and question government and also provide some support.

I have encouraged TiCSA in the light of minister Pisoni wanting to have an extra 20,800 apprenticeships and traineeships. There is an opportunity here. I think TiCSA are doing some work to look at whether they can partner with a training organisation or become a training organisation. I think there are some really good opportunities.

I have encouraged Eoin Loftus and Shaun de Bruyn to have a look at that. It is clearly a decision for their board, but I think that is an opportunity for them to really start providing value. I think that high level of service, as we get more competitive—and I mentioned earlier in the hearing today about the US component—we need to make sure our level of service is first class. So I think TiCSA play a role in that, and the budget for this year is $264,350.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Has that been reduced since last year or the last agreement?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: In 2018-19, it was $264,350. Now, in this year, it is $195,000, which committed $130,000 for the new three-year program around the tourism awards, $50,000 to continue with ServiceIQ and $15,000 for the sponsorship of the industry conference.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: You have cut out $70,000 from industry support. That is my back of the envelope: $195,000 is their ongoing funding?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Yes.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Previously, $264,000. So they have lost significant funding.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: They have, but in the end they have much stronger membership than they have had before. Again, that is why I have encouraged them to look at becoming a training organisation. It was a decade ago when the plan originally started. The Industry Council, or TiCSA as we know it today, would ultimately stand on their own two feet. There might be one-off project funding, but the plan was to have them stand on their own two feet and be a self-funded industry body.

That is why I am encouraging them to try to become involved in the training side of it, to do things that actually allow them to be more sustainable because that was the original attempt when it was set up, on my understanding, about a decade ago. Government funding—whether it was under your government—would be provided over a period of time and ultimately they would stand on their own two feet.

They are almost there and they are very happy with this agreement. I am confident that if we can look at ways they can support their members and also grow their organisation then I am sure they will be able to get close to being self-sufficient.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Looking at Budget paper 4, Volume 4, page 116, tourism events: are there any funds in the SATC budget that contribute to the Bay Sheffield carnival? Can you confirm that there will be equal prize money for men and women for this carnival and that that will be continued in this budget?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will get the exact details. We support a whole range of small events. I have a recollection that Bay Sheffield is in there, but we will just triple-check that. Although I do not know around the prize money—that is really a matter for the Bay Sheffield. I do not believe we—

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I understand you put additional money in previously to make sure—SATC did that. It was equal prize money for men and women.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: They have received $15,000 this year. I will ask Mr Harrex or Stephanie to confirm that that is what they have received in previous years. We will take that on notice as to whether it is the same amount. I certainly would not see them having a different level of prize money. I think that would be—

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Fantastic. I think that is a commitment from you.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: —unacceptable, but we will see whether the amount of money that we have given this year has reduced.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 119. Minister, when did you learn that Singapore Airlines would close their Adelaide office? Was this before or after the government signed a marketing agreement with the airline?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think the formal advice was only recently. From an operational point of view, nothing is going to change. Singapore Airlines—

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Twelve people have lost their jobs.

The CHAIR: Order, member for Ramsay! Just allow the minister to complete his answer.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: They announced on 22 July that they would close their office, and I think those changes come into effect on 14 October. It is interesting to note that Singapore Airlines chose Adelaide as the destination for their new A350 to fly into, which was a fabulous endorsement of Adelaide. It is our longest airline partner. I think they will have some additional flights, maybe over the summer period. It is always disappointing, but we have seen it with other international businesses where they contract their head office management.

Singapore is a key partner and there are marketing arrangements and promotions arrangements with the SATC and Singapore Airlines that are ongoing. They have served us extremely well. I think we should be mindful of that fact when we attract other airlines like Singapore. They are our longest serving member of the international cohort. They have been with us through good times and bad times, and I am sure that really strong support will continue from Singapore Airlines even though they are closing their commercial sales unit in Adelaide.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Minister, there is almost a $1 million cut in international tourism expenditure this financial year compared with 2018-19. What specific activities will be affected as a result of this reduced budget?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will just get some extra details on that. Any changes will have been under the lens of where we get the best benefit for our visitor economy. That is why, again, we are so delighted we have $7.2 billion in visitor expenditure. There is a decrease of about $1 million, mainly due to a decrease in expenditure on minor marketing activities to promote Adelaide and regional tourism experiences and products.

When we have a writedown in GST as we have had—and, as we said earlier, our core focus is in growing the visitor economy—the team and the board (and we have a very good board in the Tourism Commission) then have a close look at where we can get the best bang for our buck. Every now and again in these difficult times some things will be trimmed.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: But do you agree—

The CHAIR: Thank you, minister and member for Ramsay. Unfortunately, time has expired. There being no further questions, I declare the examination of proposed payments for the portfolios South Australian Tourism Commission and Adelaide Venue Management Authority, and the estimate of payments for the Department for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment and the South Australian Tourism Commission completed.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Mr Chairman, I know it is a little bit out of order, but the Bay Sheffield prize money is equal.

The CHAIR: Thank you, minister.

Sitting suspended from 12:01 to 13:00.