South Australian Tourism Industry Council

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister update the house on the recent SATIC Tourism Meet the Minister workshops held in the CBD and Glenelg?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in the tourism industry. Last week, we commenced a commitment I gave the South Australian Tourism Industry Council prior to the election that, if we were successful in winning the election—and I knew the Tourism Commission would also launch the Regional Visitor Strategy—I would do a range of meetings across South Australia, and they have entitled them 'Meet the Minister' events. We have had the first two, one in the town hall, hosted by the Lord Mayor, and one in Glenelg, hosted by the acting mayor down there, in Partridge House.

It was a sellout—in fact, you didn't have to buy tickets, but it was a capacity event at the town hall. There was a waiting list for people who wanted to get in the door, and the same in Glenelg. The room was chock-a-block. There were people standing up at the back. So obviously the industry is very keen to engage. It was a good sign that we had people there from local government, large and small tourism operators and industry bodies, such as the Hotels Association, the Convention Bureau and StudyAdelaide. I was also pleased to see the Hon. Zoe Bettison attend the CBD event as the shadow minister, taking an interest in how you engage with the industry.

We have 19 of these events scheduled—pretty much the city ones are done now—for regional South Australia over the next three months, and they are three-hour meetings, so that's a significant commitment. It is a really good chance for me to get out and meet the regional operators since the election, to see what they do and look at the challenges they are facing.

It's an important way that the Marshall government wants to collaborate with industry, have a conversation about how we can grow the tourism sector, grow the economy, create local jobs and also grow the population in regional South Australia, because under the previous government it went backwards. It was only by a handful, about a dozen or 12 people, but the population in regional South Australia went backwards.

My objectives, of course, for this are to listen and understand, which is something that I think all ministers who have responsibilities broadly across the state should get out and do; work towards developing an implementation plan for the Regional Visitor Strategy; and synchronising our efforts with the Regional Visitor Strategy and the 2020 tourism plan.

Of course, it's a bipartisan approach to these things. We are committed to the $8 billion target that the former government set. We also want to look at some long-term and strategic opportunities to support the tourism industry further, beyond the 2020 target of $8 billion. Eight billion dollars will be a great target for us to achieve, but beyond that we need to set the next target and the targets beyond that.

Fleurieu Peninsula and KI will be next week, after this sitting week. Mid North and Eyre Peninsula will be early July. We are also filling these itineraries with tourism, trade and investment visits while I am there. I am also attending the Yorkshire—the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Awards this Friday night.

An honourable member: Yorkshire what?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I know we do have a good relationship with Yorkshire, but I am not going to be attending Yorkshire for their tourism awards. The Regional Visitor Strategy identified the potential to grow regional visitor expenditure in our 11 tourism regions from $2.6 billion to $3.5 billion or $3.6 billion, so it's a billion dollars extra we can get.

South Australia's regions, as you would be aware, Mr President, generate 40 per cent of the state's total $6.6 billion visitor expenditure and account for over 13,000 regional jobs. Now that we have identified the potential, the government and industry need to work together to deliver outcomes to deliver on our commitment to get to $8 billion by 2020 and beyond.

In closing, I would like to thank Shaun de Bruyn and his team at the South Australian Tourism Industry Council for the support they have given this project. They put the events on, they have coordinated it and made sure that locals are all well informed, and they sent out the invitations. So two out of the 19 are done and were a great success, and I am looking forward to the other 17.