Visitor Economy

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:49): Can the Minister for Tourism update the house on South Australia's most recent visitor economy results?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:50): I thank the member for Light for his question. We have now had 10 out of the last 12 months of sensational results for our visitor economy. The most recent results were for the month of March. Let's remind ourselves about what happened during that fantastic time.

The Fringe Festival announced that they had been the first festival in Australia to sell a million tickets, and, of course, there were absolutely record-breaking ticket sales for WOMADelaide as well. I was out with the industry at the time, talking about the fantastic hotel occupancy rates that we were seeing during March. So we already had a really positive feeling before the recent data was announced that March was going to be a brilliant result, and it has been.

Following a record-breaking January and a better than expected February, March proved extraordinary for our South Australian tourism industry. Earlier this week, I announced that the visitor spend in South Australia in March 2023 was 34 per cent higher than its pre-pandemic 2019 figure. The $906 million result is the third highest month on record. It follows the $930 million spent in October 2022 and the all-time high of $940 million spent in January 2023.

New National Visitor Survey data for March 2023, released today, shows the strongest monthly comparison growth since the start of the pandemic: intrastate overnight spend was at $303 million, up 52 per cent on pre-COVID levels; interstate spend was $324 million, up 32 per cent on pre-COVID levels; and domestic day trip spend was $209 million, up 57 per cent on March 2019.

Of course, this individual night occupancy hotel data is backed up fantastically by the new data showing that we had the strongest month and that we also had incredibly groundbreaking individual night hotel occupancy. It was the best ever average for Adelaide hotel accommodation: 8,376 rooms booked each night of the month—a fantastic result that we are seeing. The top two nights were the Saturday of the March long weekend of WOMAD and the Tuesday of the Ed Sheeran concert during the same week—absolutely fantastic results.

Of course, we still have some work to go, and we are focusing on the international market as it comes back stronger and stronger. We are currently at 87 per cent of seats that we had pre COVID, but we are looking to increase this number as we go and build up that international demand to get back to our state.

Just last week, tourism operators from South Australia have been showcasing their offerings in a roadshow in the UK and in Europe. The roadshow supported 29 international-facing operators to meet and network with leading travel agents and product managers in key UK destinations. Joining the roadshow in the UK were agents and product managers from Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and France.

As well as these one-on-one workshops and networking events, operators met with 300 leading industry experts. These operators are highlighting South Australia's world-class nature experiences, our luxury accommodation, our Aboriginal cultural experiences, our tours and, of course, our food and wine offering. At the end of this month, I will be announcing our next year-on-year results, and I am looking forward to more fantastic figures for Awesome April and Magic May.