Question Time

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN TRAVEL CENTRE

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Tourism a question about the visitor information and travel centre.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Today we got the dreadful news that there has been yet another drop in the number of international visitors to South Australia. In fact, it has been literally decimated; there has been a 10 per cent drop in the number of international visitors in the past year. It has dropped to its lowest level in five years. This means that in the year to March, 36,000 fewer people came here from overseas than the year before. The largest drops were in Adelaide and on Kangaroo Island, in the Barossa Valley, Flinders Ranges and outback—and let us not forget that the tourism minister mocks visitors who go into the outback. The Fleurieu Peninsula was also affected.

Meanwhile, in a move condemned by the travel industry, travel facility providers, tourists, the opposition, and the 1,650,000 South Australians who are not in the Weatherill cabinet, the South Australian Tourism Commission's visitor information centre moved from the highly visible and disability-friendly location in King William Street to an out of the way basement in Grenfell Street.

Following the collapse of an agreement with the private operator, Holidays of Australia, which operated the cave, the South Australian Tourism Commission has taken over the employment of staff providing visitor information services there until 30 June this year. That is just 18 days away. I have been given what I believe is reliable information that staff, including senior staff, at the South Australian Tourism Commission are in limbo. They do not know who will be paying them in 18 days; they do not know if they will be given the flick. They have no certainty; they do not know if they will be working or where. My questions are:

1. Is the minister ashamed of her performance as tourism minister?

2. If not, has the minister talked to her colleagues (because they are)?

3. When will the visitor information centre move out of the bunker and back into the street, where it belongs?

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) (14:24): I thank the honourable member for his questions—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Just answer the question.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I am happy to answer the question—very happy to answer the question—because it gives me a good opportunity to put on the record how well South Australia is, in fact, doing. Indeed, the recent international visitor figures were disappointing. South Australia experienced a decline, which was very disappointing. South Australia's market share did fall, and a significant contributing factor to that—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —has been the 1.9 per cent of total international airline seats into Australia. South Australia's share of direct international flights to Adelaide is only, as I said, a 1.9 per cent share of the national seats. This, of course, does have a significant impact on international visitors to South Australia. We know that the dollar has limited international visits here and that, as I said, on top of South Australia's low share of direct flights, makes it very tough. We know that at this particular point in time the airline industry is, in fact, extremely competitive.

It is a very challenging climate to be in, and many of the airlines are struggling. However, despite this, South Australia works very hard to attract direct international airline seats to South Australia and, in fact, we have recently just announced the good news that Singapore Airlines is increasing its number of direct flights to Adelaide, and we continue with those negotiations; but in this particular climate it is very hard to get the international airlines to consider new flights.

Despite these disappointing figures, part of South Australia's strategy in terms of tourism (and I have talked about this in this place before), because of the struggle with the dollar rate, is promoting interstate and intrastate visiting. We have put quite a lot of money into campaigns like our Shorts and Best Backyard campaigns and also the campaign for Kangaroo Island. So that has been the target of our strategy, and it is working. It is working really well. Despite the—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I don't have much voice, Mr President, so I am saving it.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: You don't have much of anything, Gail, to be honest.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: We certainly don't have much of an opposition, that's for sure. We have no opposition in this place but, anyway, I am trying to save my voice, Mr President. Despite those disappointing international figures, I have said it in this place before and I am happy to remind the chamber of our increased growth in our domestic visit rates. South Australia is, overall in terms of tourism, still growing. As I said, in spite of those disappointing international figures, overall, South Australia's tourism grows, and that is because of our very strong domestic visitation growth which, as I said, has been core to our strategy.

I have a report that I have referred to previously. A new domestic report is about to come out, so these figures are going to be superseded fairly quickly. As I reported from these figures before, for domestic overnight visitors there was an increase of 8 per cent during that period, whereas the national growth rate was only 4 per cent. Our market share rose 6.8 per cent to 7.1 per cent in both intra and interstate travel; business was up; friends and relatives visits were up; holidays were up; and, again, all of those sectors were higher than all of the national results. In terms of domestic visitor nights we topped the nation with a growth of 9.9 per cent. The national growth was only 1.4 per cent.

There was an increase of 7.4 per cent in day trips, whereas nationally they were only sitting on 3.4 per cent. In terms of regional visits, we know that 63 per cent of domestic visitors to South Australia visited regional South Australia. Those figures which I referred to previously are very strong for our domestic tourism growth. Overall, South Australia's tourism is growing because we have a strong strategic plan. It is working, and tourism is growing in this state at a time when things are really tough. This strategy is working because we have a good plan and we also have a wonderful industry of tourism operators who work very hard to achieve good outcomes for this state.

In terms of the visitor information centre, I have said that we are reviewing this—and we have. I am looking at a particular model at the moment and I expect that this matter should be resolved quickly in the foreseeable future, and I will be pleased to make an announcement soon.