House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Visitor Economy Visitor Economy Ms STINSON House of Assembly Badcoe Visitor Economy Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. How is the government supporting the growth of our visitor economy? The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON House of Assembly Ramsay Minister for Tourism Minister for Multicultural Affairs Visitor Economy The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:47): I thank the member for Badcoe for her question. I was really pleased in early April to announce that we had surpassed our pre-COVID visitor economy. As at the year end of 2022, we are now an $8.3 billion visitor economy. Pre COVID it was $8.3 billion. What was particularly excellent about this result was the last six months of 2022, where we saw the unprecedented investment that this government put into tourism and hospitality really pay dividends. As you know, going to the election we committed an additional $45 million over four years for marketing and an extra $40 million for major events. What we saw in the last six months was growth from $6.2 billion to $8.3 billion. We saw new events such as Harvest Rock coming in, and brought back the VALO Adelaide 500—significant new events coming into our calendar. Of course, these are the drivers to increase tourism in our state. What we want to do is change perceptions of how people view South Australia. We have certainly been turning heads just lately. Whether it be the Gather Round or LIV Golf, people are looking at South Australia in a different way. Earlier this week I attended ATE, the Australian Tourism Exchange, our great contingent of South Australians— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call. The member for Hartley will cease his exchange with the member for Taylor. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wright knows better. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wright is warned. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call. The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON House of Assembly Ramsay Minister for Tourism Minister for Multicultural Affairs The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Well, we are changing perceptions from 'Old Mate'. Thank you for that reminder. Today, I got to announce the best ever record for hotels— Mr Tarzia interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley! The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON House of Assembly Ramsay Minister for Tourism Minister for Multicultural Affairs The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —in March 2023; the best hotel occupancy on record. We love our Mad March, Fringe Festival and WOMAD, but what we love more than ever is economic growth, and we saw $60 million of revenue in March of this year. That is before we even get to Awesome April, but they are the figures I announced today. It is not just here in the CBD but across the whole of South Australia. We saw our regional hotel occupancy at 69 per cent during March this year, and six of the 11 regions have surpassed their 2025 year target. I am particularly pleased to say that the Barossa and Yorke Peninsula have more than surpassed their 2025 targets—and it was wonderful to be up there during vintage to launch that just last month. Of course, not all regions have been doing as well as we hoped. We know that our river regions were impacted in what is generally their peak season, and that is why we have committed $4.6 million to an advertising campaign as well as the vouchers. We are going to have three rounds of vouchers; we have just had the first round coming through, and that has been a really big hit with $1.8 million in bookings. That is a fantastic response; for the 90 different operators that have registered nearly all of them got one or more bookings. That is incredibly important. We will continue to work in the regions, particularly in the river region. We have been talking to the local member who has provided some advice, and there have also been suggestions from operators about how the next rounds, rounds 2 and 3, should roll out.