INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Will the minister inform the house how South Australia is performing when it comes to attracting international visitors?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Tourism) (15:01): I thank the honourable member for his question. All members probably know what a great booster he is for tourism in South Australia and, in particular, the beautiful McLaren Vale region, where he invites people to go all the time. I am pleased to say that I have been there at his request, and it is very nice to go there and he is doing a great job—as are many members, including members opposite, who I know are enthusiasts in relation to tourism.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Finniss!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Even the member for Finniss is a great enthusiast for tourism and likes to invite people to his electorate.

However, I would like to get onto some of the detail about this because it is great news for tourism in South Australia. South Australia welcomed 363,600 international visitors for the 12 months to the end of June this year. That is a 5 per cent increase on the previous 12 months and is ahead of the national increase of 3 per cent. So South Australia is doing better than the national average.

These results show that visitors are also staying longer in South Australia. International visitors spent 8.2 million nights in the state for the 12 months ending June this year, and that is an all-time high. This represents an increase in international visitor nights of 16 per cent on the previous 12-month period. This is well above the national average of a 5 per cent growth for the same period.

Why are these people staying longer? There are a number of reasons but, to touch on a few of them, some of these extra stays are related to educational services (and I know the Premier in his statement today mentioned the effort that is going into increasing and improving that effort, particularly in India) and also business stays. There have also been increases in people staying for holiday purposes, and this has improved over the previous 12 months. In all, $685 million of international visitor expenditure in South Australia in the previous 12 months is a pretty good achievement. That is a 14 per cent increase on the previous year and ahead of the 3 per cent national increase. Again, South Australia is doing substantially better than the national average.

So, the state is doing well in relation to tourism, and I thank the honourable member for his question and continued support, in particular for McLaren Vale.