Major Events

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Minister, what were the economic benefits of the 2015 Clipsal 500 Adelaide and other events to South Australia?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:57): I am very pleased to inform the house today that the 2015 Clipsal 500 generated a record $60.6 million for the South Australian economy. This year's events saw attendances of 285,600 fans, which is a 4.3 per cent increase on attendances in 2014. This was the third largest overall crowd attendance in the event's 17-year history and the second highest Sunday attendance ever of 93,600. Of course, the member for Hammond knows the biggest ever Sunday attendance was a couple of years ago when his favourite band, Kiss, played. I'm pleased to inform the house that the event also created 440 new full-time equivalent jobs.

More than 12,900 people from interstate and overseas came to Adelaide for this year's Clipsal 500, with Adelaide's hotels and motels recording 67,597 visitor bed nights. The Clipsal 500 has always been the event that sells out nearly every hotel room in Adelaide. Even this year, with an extra 660-odd new hotel beds that have come online in the past 12 to 18 months and four new CBD hotel developments and, of course, the Art Series hotel at Walkerville, we're still seeing very high occupancy rates.

Another big winner for the hospitality industry was the World Cup cricket match, Pakistan versus India, a game that this government strategically went after while others were looking to get Australia versus Bangladesh, which generates very few tourism numbers and dollars. We were very strategic in going after Pakistan versus India. I am pleased to announce that both the night before that match and the night of the game hotels in Adelaide recorded the highest room revenue ever. I know plenty of people who live along the road to Victoria and the road to New South Wales also had their hotels and motels jam-packed as people travelled by car from Sydney and Melbourne and other parts of Australia to come to the beautiful Adelaide Oval, where the government has invested $550 million in making it the very best sports stadium in Australia. While talking about the Adelaide Oval, I am also pleased to inform the house that—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: And other events. You don't like good news, do you? You do not like good news.

The SPEAKER: The minister is called to order.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: On the back of that $550 million investment we have seen the game of football, as it is played and as it is presented here in South Australia, change. If we compare the winter weekend hotel occupancy figures for this April and compare them to two years ago when football was being played at Football Park, the occupancy rate this April for weekends was up 52 per cent. That figure has just been released today: a 52 per cent increase in occupancies. Not only have we had these five new hotels—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley will withdraw under the standing order for the rest of question time—15 minutes.

The honourable member for Unley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Not only have we seen five new hotels open in the past two years, but we have five new hotels on the drawing board to open between now and 2018. I was delighted last week to go down to Sturt Street where the Starwood group, which have hotel chains like Westin and Sheraton, is building an Aloft hotel with 200 rooms. They believe in this government's investment in the Riverbank. They believe in this government's investment in Adelaide Oval. They believe in this government's investment in the Convention Centre and the medical precinct. On the back of that government investment we are seeing private investors coming in and spending millions of dollars creating thousands of jobs.

The SPEAKER: Alas, the minister's time has expired.