Coastal Tourism Recovery Plan

Mr DIGHTON (Black) (15:59): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Can the minister update the house on the campaign for tourism recovery in our coastal regions?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:59): Thank you very much to the member for Black. I thank him for his advocacy for his electorate, which of course has had an economic impact during this time. Over the last few days, we have been announcing the summer plan. This is an extensive plan talking about what we can do now for our economy and, as we look to the future, in areas of restoration.

Just yesterday I stood with the Premier, the Minister for Environment, the federal Minister for the Environment and Water, and Shaun de Bruyn, the CEO of the Tourism Industry Council of South Australia. We were able to talk about those next stages, both the travel vouchers and introducing the dining cashback offer. Let me talk about the travel vouchers for the Coast is Calling campaign—bigger, expanded and extended. Whenever we have done these voucher programs, we are always listening to tourism operators. What is working for them? What could we do differently? How could this be better? So I am pleased to announce that we will have 30,000 vouchers in round 2 of the travel vouchers, with more focus on those higher value vouchers, the $200 and $500, which is for two-night and five-night stays.

We have expanded the vouchers to include holiday rentals for Airbnb shared accommodation providers that also have ABNs on the ATDW. We are going to involve the KI ferry and, of course, increase the number of operators and experiences that can be involved. We have also been hearing that people need a longer time to book this travel, so we extended the travel period from 5 December through to 26 April.

We know that these vouchers work. They motivate South Australians to get out there and support our coastal communities, to make sure that we have a call to action. People booking will also have a redraw facility during that time. Round 1 has been very successful—$2.9 million in booking value, more than 6,000 redemptions.

Yesterday, something new we introduced was the dining cashback—300,000 South Australians can enter this ballot. Of course, this is a 'use it or lose it' type of policy. If they are a winner, people can have up to 50 per cent off their dining experience, up to $50, but we are going to do it every month—60,000 vouchers every month—to encourage people to get out there to our coastal communities.

All the details are on southaustralia.com. I have had a great response from people, whether it be from hospitality or tourism operators, who often bear the brunt of the conversation. This is certainty and this is confidence for them. We support them and South Australians do also.

The SPEAKER: Before we head on to grievances, the member for Bragg is celebrating his 35^th birthday today. He is a Libran. Apparently, Librans and Leos get on very well, so no wonder we are so compatible.