Question Time

TOURISM COMMISSION

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Tourism about yet another embarrassing bungle in tourism.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: A riveting question.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: You should pay attention, please, Hon. Rob Brokenshire. Last year, in a major bungle, with the minister's advanced knowledge, the South Australian visitor information centre moved from its prominent location in King William Street to a hidden basement well off the beaten tourist track. People can't find the centre; that is almost everybody, including the minister, but they might use a free app on their iPhone, which they can download from the minister's ever helpful South Australian Tourism Commission. The app offers a 60-minute scenic tour, hosted by a suave, sophisticated voice called Annabel.

'Let me show you our fair city' croons the voice soothingly, 'as only a local can.' So, Annabel takes us for a tour of the city, as only a local can. First, in the app she directs us to the Adelaide Oval, where the app says we can see the Sir Donald Bradman Stand and the Victor Richardson and Clarrie Grimmett Gates, and of course we know the Victor Richardson and Clarrie Grimmett Gates have been demolished for over two months. In fact, the minister's horse is closing the gate long after the tourists have bolted.

So, after getting lost at the Adelaide Oval, let us say the tourist tries to find the visitor information centre with the app. Where does it take us? To King William Street, to the office that closed last year. It says that there is a taxi rank right outside the door—well, not in Grenfell Street there isn't. We have an app for information that cannot apply itself to finding even the simplest thing, the visitor information centre. My questions to the minister are:

1. Did the minister hear anything or listen to anything when she was at the South Australian Tourism Industry Council's e-Tourism Convention yesterday?

2. Does she have the remotest idea how important apps and e-commerce are or how they work?

3. Has she ever used the SATC app and, if so, will she please tell Annabel that the gates have gone and so has the information centre?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (14:21): Again we see the ongoing carping, whining, whingeing and negativity. Indeed, the honourable member has pointed to an app where things change quickly. It is very difficult to keep information up to date, but attempts are put in place to do that and update the app. What we see here, as I said, is an opposition whingeing, whining, carping, moaning, bagging and putting down the state and, of course, putting down our tourism operators, never giving any acknowledgement to the incredibly good work that they do.

It is interesting because, at the location of our visitor information centre, which is currently under review, tourism businesses have run—in that very same location—for a decade or more in one form or another in a commercial way. So, it is obviously a location that people can find because, as I said, successful tourism businesses have operated from that location for a decade or more in one form or other. So it is just ludicrous to suggest that people cannot find it. In fact, a tourism business continues to operate from there. As I said—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Your backbench is embarrassed that you are the minister in charge of this.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —what the honourable member should be doing is drawing attention to the achievements of our tourism industry and singing accolades for our great achievements. As I have said in this place before, South Australia attracted almost $5 million—just under $5 million—in domestic overnight visitors, which was an increase of 8 per cent for the year ending December 2010. I am advised that this is the highest year-to-year growth in visitor numbers for 11 years, the second highest growth in all states and territories, and twice that of the national average. So, clearly we are doing it right with statistics like that—twice the growth of the national average.

Our market share rose from 6.8 per cent to 7.1 per cent, driven by very strong growth from both intrastate and interstate visitation. SA recorded growth in all purposes for visits: business visits were up 14.8 per cent; friends and relatives, up 8.7 per cent; holidays up, 3.3 per cent. All of this growth is higher than the national average. So we cannot be getting it too wrong if we can achieve growth like that. We can't be going too wrong.

In the 12 months ending December 2011, SA's share of the domestic visitor nights in Australia was 7.1 per cent, up from 6.5 per cent in the previous year, and there were 10.9 million day trips in South Australia in 2011, an increase of 7.4. National day trips increased 3.4 compared to our 7.4 so, again, strong growth for South Australia; strong growth. We can't be getting it too wrong if we can exceed national growth on all those levels.

But do we see the opposition give any acknowledgement for those achievements? Do we see the opposition at all acknowledge the hard work of our tourism operators, often mum-and-dad operations that spend their lives beavering away in these businesses? Do we see the opposition giving any acknowledgement to the hard work and dedication and achievement of these operators?

No; rather they will trawl through acts and when there is a small inconsistency that is what we see them carp and harp on about. Again, we see the opposition putting down this state, talking us down, trying to rattle business confidence and trying to undermine public confidence. I think it is an irresponsible opposition.