Tourism Marketing

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:59): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Minister, can you update the house on tourism marketing activities in China?

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Do it in Chinese; do it in Mandarin.

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) (14:59): Ni hao, xie xie. I thank the member for Light for the question. Last week it was terrific to see our international visitor survey figures come out to show a 10 per cent increase in the number of international visitors to South Australia and, importantly, a 26 per cent increase in the revenue of the money spent by international visitors when they have come here.

In this year's state budget we added an extra $35 million for the tourism sector to make sure that we can market our state and its regions all around Australia, and indeed around the world. Three million dollars of that $35 million was earmarked for promotions in China, and I am happy to say that we are seeing a great increase in—well, I guess in the revenue. Year on year we have increased the amount of money coming into the South Australian economy from Chinese tourists by 33 per cent, so that is a terrific result.

The number of Chinese visitors to Australia increased 5 per cent, and it is part of our 2020 China strategy to keep increasing the number of visitors. We had 32,000 Chinese visitors to South Australia last year; we want to grow that to 57,000 by 2020. One of the ways we are doing it is by working with television production companies, and I just wanted to single out one that is called Running Man. It is a show not known to Australians, but it is a massive show in China. They were here last year and, as soon as people saw characters from these shows in Rundle Mall or in Chinatown, down at the Adelaide Central Market, and they put that on Twitter or Facebook, huge mobs just descended on the mall and Chinatown.

That episode has gone to air now and it reached an audience of 200 million people. I mean, they are figures that even Matt and Dave would dream about. Two hundred million people is a great audience; it is a terrific audience. We are going out on social media; we are spending money in that way. When I was up in Qingdao last November I walked into a local shopping centre and they had fantastic displays and interactive activities for families to get involved in.

Of course, we have seen an increase, too, in the number of students that we have got coming to South Australia. Through Study Adelaide we are working on getting even more Chinese students down here to—

Mr Knoll: Leon, isn't Running Man a Korean show, not Chinese?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Mr Speaker, the member for Schubert just keeps yelling out. I can't even hear myself. If you could just—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: He just keeps yelling out, sir.

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is on two warnings.

Ms Sanderson: Is it Korean or Chinese?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Ends another bad week for the member for Schubert.

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We will continue to look at the visitor economy as a way we can create more jobs in South Australia and that we can add money into our state. It is an important sector; one that employs 32,000 South Australians. We want to get another 9,000 South Australians working in the tourism sector by 2020, and we will do that by spending more money, by getting more events, more conferences and more conventions to South Australia, and making sure that we show off South Australia to interstate and overseas audiences in the best possible light.

We are also working with Chinese airlines. We know it is very important to get a direct link with China. The team from the South Australian Tourism Commission recently had discussions up there with China Southern and China Eastern, and those talks are continuing.