BAROSSA VALLEY MARKETING CAMPAIGN

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:02): My question is directed to the Minister for Tourism. Minister, can you inform the house about the impact of the South Australian Tourism Commission's new Barossa marketing campaign and what effect it is having in that region?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (15:02): I thank the member for Ashford for the question and note the keen interest from the member for Shubert as well. The people in the Barossa and the people of South Australia in general are receiving fantastic feedback about the ad, not just from locals here in South Australia but from people around Australia. The proof is in the bookings that they are experiencing out in the Barossa as well.

The ad was launched towards the end of May and started going to air in June. July and August were the best July and August bookings the Barossa had ever had, and it has been a huge increase on previous years. We knew that when we designed that ad for the Barossa, the Barossa was the second most talked about wine region in Australia, but the fifth most visited wine region in Australia. We wanted to change that and put the hook out there for people in the Eastern States to actually take a different look at the Barossa.

Anyone who has seen the ad, with the Nick Cave soundtrack, will know that there is not a lot of wine in the ad; there is only one sort of very short shot of the wine. It is actually about the earth and the great things that are produced in the Barossa Valley and in the wider South Australian community. By putting the hook out there for the Barossa, we are attracting people to South Australia, not just to visit the Barossa but to go up to the member for Chaffey's electorate just up the road, the Riverland, down to McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills, up to Clare—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —and of course, the Coonawarra—we don't want to miss you out there, member for MacKillop. We saw the same thing when we did the ad the previous year, with Eddie Vedder doing the soundtrack: we saw people turning up in the Barossa, McLaren Vale and the Hills saying, 'We've come here because we saw that great ad for Kangaroo Island.' So, Kangaroo Island was a hook to get people to come here, and of course the same thing is happening with the Barossa. I had an email from Chris Pfeiffer, who is the regional chair of the Barossa tourism region, who said:

...the Barossa Be Consumed ad is working very well with consumer interest well beyond that which has been experienced in the last 10 years. Accommodation bookings through the [visitor information centres] during July & August have been the busiest months on record and up nearly 100% on 2012. That, together with hugely increased visitations to barossa.com and southaustralia.com augur well for the coming months.

He then goes on to say that local operators are recording record bookings, as well. He said:

I want to thank you all for your contribution to increasing tourism in the Barossa and South Australia and for having the foresight to select our region for promotion through barossa.com.

So, while it is attracting people to come to South Australia and come to the Barossa, it is also attracting the interest of critics around Australia and around the world, as well. Viewers of Gruen Planet would have seen just a couple of weeks ago that it got the four thumbs up and rave reviews. That doesn't always happen.

It obviously has that cut-through, and we see when anyone produces cheap ads that you have to play them over and over again, but a quality ad like the Barossa ad—we spent $6 million on this ad, on developing it and then buying the TV slots in the Eastern States to put it to air. It is not a cheap process, but we have a $5 billion industry that we want to grow to an $8 billion industry by 2020, and we need to invest money to make money.

I think everyone will agree that, for the good of South Australia, we need to put that word out. James Rickard, the creative director of KWP!, a local company, is on his way to Europe. The ad has been entered in the Cannes Corporate Media and Television Awards, as well. They were actually invited to put the ad in; they didn't nominate to.

The SPEAKER: A point of order?

Ms CHAPMAN: As interesting as this is, I think the four minutes has now expired.

The SPEAKER: No, the four minutes is not up, and accordingly I ask the deputy leader to absent herself from the chamber for the next hour.

The honourable member for Bragg having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: So, this is a tremendous ad that is winning critical acclaim around the world. It is in for a number of other international awards, as well, but more importantly, it is driving people interstate to actually take a fresh look at South Australia and get them to get in their cars, get on planes and come and visit our great state, because we have 11 great tourism regions.

The SPEAKER: That's a pity, because there could have been another opposition question if it hadn't been for that bogus point of order.