Tourism

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Will the honourable Leader of the Government allow the Hon. Mr Gazzola to ask his question?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! You are wasting very valuable question time.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: That wasn't a waste; that was exactly what he wanted.

The PRESIDENT: Well, that's good. There are a number of people who want to ask questions and won't be able to because you are dragging this on. The Hon. Mr Gazzola.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Thank you, sir. My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the Minister inform the chamber about the international exposure that South Australia's tourism icons have recently received?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. There is no doubt about him; he is up with modern technology and those app things that you get on your flat screens. We are, of course, very lucky to have a world-class network of national parks, we know about that. Pristine landscape and scenery and magnificent wildlife is something that we all treasure, but word is getting out.

The beauty that our state offers, along with our great climate, and our bustling, vibrant city, with our very busy events calendar makes South Australia a very attractive place for people to visit. We know that the South Australian tourism market adds $5.6 billion to the state economy each year and the industry, I am advised, employs more than 32,000 people. The Premier has made it clear that he has intentions to build on this. One of the Premier's economic principles is to make South Australia a destination of choice for international and domestic travellers. Underpinning this principle is the goal to boost the industry to $8 billion a year and 41,000 jobs by 2020.

The environment department wants to play a role in boosting nature-based tourism in this state to attract visitors. The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources recently collaborated with the South Australian Tourism Commission to create the 'Nature like nowhere else' strategy. This strategy builds on the nature-based tourism assets we already have in this state. The government's commitment to nature-based tourism is exemplified by our $5 million investment in the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, the $1.7 million investment in the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary, and the $1.5 million invested to make the Mount Lofty Ranges an international mountain biking destination. With this strategy, we hope to inject $350 million per annum into the state's economy and create 1,000 new jobs by 2020.

One way to achieve the goals of this strategy is to increase our international coverage of the state and what we have to offer. I am very pleased to be able to advise that seven of the state's iconic tourism sites have just received a certificate of excellence from TripAdvisor. The seven sites that received the 2016 certificate of excellence are the Adelaide Gaol, the Cleland Wildlife Park, Kelly Hill caves, Mount Lofty summit, Naracoorte caves, Seal Bay and Tantanoola caves. TripAdvisor, I am advised, is the world's number one travel website. According to its website, TripAdvisor offers advice from millions of travellers to millions of travellers and reaches over 350 million unique monthly visits.

TripAdvisor users are invited to give ratings about accommodation, eateries and attractions throughout the world. I am advised that the award acknowledges hospitality businesses that deliver consistently great service. The best part about these awards is that they are determined exclusively by mostly international travellers. So we have received these awards based on positive reviews by domestic and international travellers who have come to South Australia and had a great experience. I am told that positive user reviews are more influential than paid advertising and I understand that, impressively, 75 per cent of all TripAdvisor users are more likely to patronise a business displaying a TripAdvisor endorsement.

The certificates of excellence showcase to the world what we have to offer here in this state. Some of the reviews for the Cleland Wildlife Park, for example, highlight just what sort of things people love about their experience here. One reviewer from Dallas, USA says about Cleland:

I love this place! You can feed the kangaroos and wallabies and potoroos and enjoy strolling the whole place. It's a lovely location and the grounds are beautiful. You can touch a koala if you go at the right time. For an American, seeing all the animals was a real thrill.

Another reviewer from Quebec City describes Cleland as 'the best attraction in Australia by far' and says:

We went without any expectation and we were blown away. Coming from overseas…one of our main goals in Australia was to see the Aussie animals and this is without a doubt, the best place to experience encounters. And it is actually affordable when compared to other zoos in the country. We pet and fed the animals! It was amazing!!

This type of international exposure from award-winning sites like TripAdvisor is instrumental in boosting tourism and driving economic growth in the state. It is not the only international exposure, of course, that South Australia has received lately, but it proves that Cleland Wildlife Park, one of the only places in the world where you can hold a koala, is a very big drawcard for our state. I am advised that the Cleland Wildlife Park is featured on the high profile Instagram accounts of Qatar Airways, Tourism Australia and the Eurovision song winner from, I think, two years ago now, Conchita Wurst.

In early May, tourism minister Leon Bignell announced Qatar Airways direct daily flights between Doha and Adelaide. The Qatar Airways Instagram account posted a photo of a Qatar Airways flight steward holding a koala at Cleland. The post has over 16,000 likes. More recently, the official Tourism Australia Instagram account also posted a picture of a koala at Cleland, reminding followers that Cleland is only a 20 minute drive from Adelaide and also promoting the Adelaide Hills. This post received, I am advised, over 46,000 likes. As I said, I cannot go past mentioning again my close personal friend Conchita Wurst. When she visited Adelaide and popped into the Cleland Wildlife Park, I am told that Conchita was especially excited to hold Steve, a resident koala, and her Instagram post received over 15,000 likes.

The value of these social media posts is that they are spontaneous and they are genuine and therefore very meaningful to people who consult sites such as TripAdvisor. I draw on these examples because they not only show how popular some of our tourist sites are to an international audience but also how we are capitalising on that popularity to grow our economy, grow tourism in this state and grow jobs in this very important sector.