Visitor Economy

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Can the minister provide an update to the house on South Australia's visitor economy?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:54): Today was one of those massive milestone days for South Australia, with Emirates committing to coming back with daily flights from 28 October. When we came to government, we were very committed to building back our tourism economy and that meant reinstating those airlines that ceased during COVID. Our expectation is of a $160 million impact to our economy through tourism and, of course, through freight. Each flight will take 14 tonnes of freight to and from Adelaide to Dubai and beyond.

Of course, Emirates has 140 connections throughout the world, so with one stop we are connecting to the globe. It is a fantastic day. This builds on our fantastic announcement that we made of hitting a $10.2 billion dollar visitor economy. Our expectation was to build back to where we were before COVID, but what we have actually done is gone beyond that already and this is a fantastic opportunity. We have already reached $1.22 billion in international spend beyond and above our COVID figures. Emirates' announcement today will only build and build that opportunity that we have, supported of course by interstate visitation at $3.6 billion and intrastate at 3.2.

We do know that the CBD of Adelaide was particularly impacted during COVID, particularly when those convention, conference and business delegates were not coming. I am so pleased to see that the visitor spend in the CBD is back to $5.6 billion. This is a record-breaking amount and it goes also to the hard work we focused on with major events.

We know people are talking about South Australia more now than they have for a decade and what a great start to the year we have had. In 2024, we started with the Adelaide International live at the drive—fantastic tennis—and then, of course, we had the Santos Tour Down Under. It was a fantastic competition we had this year and, of course, next year is our 25^th anniversary. We are expecting great things and I look forward to announcing those.

There is the Laser Men's World Championship. I don't know that much about sailing, but, I tell you what, 45,000 hotel nights turns my head. We have had three lots of championships, just wrapping up now out there in the western suburbs, impacting our economy.

Of course, it is our favourite time of the year with the Fringe, Festival and WOMAD coming back. The Fringe sold a million tickets last year. That was a great announcement and a great achievement. Of course, that leads us in to Gather Round and LIV Golf. These are two events people talk to me about when I am interstate and about how excited they are. We know that people have been buying their tickets as quickly as possible. The LIV Golf hospitality tickets are sold out already.

In May, we are leading onto Tasting Australia. What I love about Tasting Australia is the impact on regional areas. Of course, 47 per cent of every dollar is spent in the regions. The regions are a key player. It is such an important part of what people want to connect to in South Australia.

In July, we are onto Illuminate. Everyone puts on their beanie and their coat and comes to those events, both free and ticketed. What I am most excited about is an international event that will be here for the first time. Dale Chihuly's Garden Cycle will be in the Botanic Garden for seven months from September through to April 2025. This will be the first time in the southern hemisphere. It is absolutely stunning. Once again, there will be free entry for South Australians for what is a beautiful exhibition.