Tourism

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (16:03): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. How has the state government assisted in attracting new events and conferences to South Australia?

The SPEAKER: The nightwatchman.

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) (16:04): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I thank the member for Colton for his question. Of course, tourism has been a hugely successful area of South Australia's economy, with great thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer for the support that they have been putting in. Not only did we go out and build the infrastructure—$535 million for the Adelaide Oval and $400 million for the Convention Centre, which will be finished in August this year—but we have seen follow-up spending by the private sector in terms of new accommodation that has been built around the place and other infrastructure.

In the past two budgets, the Treasurer has given $70 million to the visitor economy so that we can get out and market South Australia and really sell the great benefits of this state to people around Australia and around the world. Off the back of that, we have attracted new airlines into South Australia. In December last year, we welcomed China Southern Airlines with the very first direct flights from mainland China into Adelaide, which was a huge boon for our state. That came on top of Qatar Airways, which began their direct flights from Doha to Adelaide on 4 May last year, so we have just celebrated the first anniversary of that great air link.

When it comes to the area of conventions, we know that a conventional business delegate to South Australia will spend six times more than the average tourist to South Australia. Back in 2013, we started a convention bid fund, and we have increased the spend in that bid fund and secured many successful conferences. The biggest conference in the state's history will be held in South Australia in 2019. The World Routes conference will attract 3,300 delegates, and it's going to be terrific to have all the airlines in the world coming here to discuss where they fly around the world.

It will be great not just to have that many delegates here pumping around $20 million into the economy but to have the real decision-makers of the aviation world here in Adelaide. It is the first time ever that this conference has been held in South Australia. In September this year, we will have the 68^th International Astranautical Congress, which will have 3,000 delegates and $18 million worth of economic impact. The 37^th Australian Dental Congress will be here, and that is 3,500 delegates and $10.4 million into the economy.

When we look at what has happened in the visitor economy in South Australia in the past year, it has increased from $900 million: it has gone from $5.4 billion to $6.3 billion. That is $2.49 million per day coming into the South Australian economy that we didn't have last year. Importantly, we have increased the number of jobs in the visitor economy by 4,000 in the past two years. That is a 14.6 per cent increase—the best percentage increase of any state or territory in Australia. Over that same period, Queensland went backwards by 5 per cent.

People can say, 'Well, South Australia is doing well because of the favourable Australian dollar,' but we are doing well because we are putting government resources into the infrastructure in South Australia, we are putting government resources into marketing and we are working side by side with those hardworking businesspeople out there right around this state who are doing such a fantastic job in the tourism sector, so I want to thank them. I know that I will see a lot of them next week at the Australian Tourism Exchange in Sydney where once again all these tourism operators will be working alongside the South Australian Tourism Commission to sell our wonderful state to people from right around the world whose job it is to sell holidays and conventions to their customers right around the world.