Tour Down Under

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (14:39): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. What was the economic impact and attendance figure for this year's Tour Down Under?

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) (14:40): I thank the member for Reynell for that question and acknowledge her great work, along with the member for Ashford, in really promoting the women's race in South Australia, the Women's Tour Down Under.

Some great figures just in by independent research company McGregor Tan show that the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under broke all records. For the first time, we smashed through the 800,000 barrier in terms of the number of people who came out and watched the six stages of the Santos Tour Down Under, with the final figure being 840,000 fans lining the streets. That was up from 795,000 the previous year, so it's terrific.

In particular, we saw more than 42,750 cycling fans make the journey from interstate and overseas, compared with 39,000 visitors the previous year. This is why the Tourism Commission, through Major Events, runs the Santos Tour Down Under—because it is an event where we aim to attract people from around Australia and indeed around the world.

I want to pay tribute to all those people involved in the race. Of course, Mike Turtur—well known to everyone as a 1984 Olympic gold medallist on the track in Los Angeles—has done a fantastic job as the director of this race. He is the guy who came up with the idea for this race, dating back to the very first one back in 1999. Hitaf Rasheed heads up Major Events South Australia and Sally Heading completed her 15^th and last Tour Down Under this year. We wish her well as she is going off to help run the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast next year.

The economic benefit to the state—again, we crashed through another barrier of $50 million—was up to $56.5 million, which was a great improvement and $6.9 million up on the previous year. That is testament to the fact that we put extra money into the Santos Tour Down Under as well. As part of that $70 million we have added to the tourism portfolio—and I thank the Treasurer for that contribution—$6 million has gone to making sure that we upgrade not just the men's race but the women's race as well and the whole festival around the cycling.

Birds of Tokyo played at the team presentation on the Saturday night this year and a terrific crowd came to see all the riders. Of course, Peter Sagan, the dual world champion, was there with his rainbow jersey. He was, no doubt, a very big drawcard. The media coverage has been valued at $202 million and the potential audience reach was 738 million people. This is the biggest bike race outside Europe and it starts off the international season.

Of course, we had the head of the UCI and the Director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, here to watch this year's race. They were blown away not only by the organisation and the professionalism of the race but also by the knowledge of the crowds who line the route—840,000 people and they know so much about the sport. Next year will be the 20^th edition of the Tour Down Under, and we are working on some big things to make sure it is the biggest and best.

As I said, we got 840,000 people out there this year; we would love to see us crack the million mark. There are not many sporting events in Australia's history that have had a million people turn up to them. For the 20^th Tour Down Under next year, it would be great to have all South Australians, particularly those who might have been to a stage over the past 19 years but haven't been back for a while, to get out, feel the excitement and see the very best men and women in world cycling compete in the beautiful regions around South Australia.