Cruise Ship Strategy

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:26): My question is directed to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment about tourism. Can the minister update the chamber about South Australia's cruise ship strategy?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:26): Mr President, I can see you are even excited about hearing about South Australia's tourism.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will see if I can work the quiz answer into it. I do thank the honourable member for her ongoing interest in tourism and particularly the cruise ship sector. Just by way of background, the 2017-18 cruise ship season commenced on 14 October last year, so less than 12 months ago, and it concluded on 30 March 2018. We had 65 cruise ships visit South Australian ports last year—I think it was a record number—including 37 ship visits to Adelaide (including three overnight visits), 19 ship visits to Kangaroo Island (Penneshaw) and nine ships to Port Lincoln, welcoming some 150,860 passengers and crew.

The 2018 season in South Australia welcomed the largest, newest ship to visit Australia, the Ovation of the Seas, for the second consecutive season. Other highlights included 15 maiden visits statewide and, of course, the return of the Queen Mary 2 to Kangaroo Island for the second consecutive year. The Queen Mary 2 visit coincided with the hosting of the Queen's Baton Relay and the first Kangaroo Island Fringe event.

This year's cruise season, the 2018-19 one, will commence on 6 October 2018, with this time 86 cruise ship visits scheduled for South Australian ports, consisting of 43 visits to Adelaide (including four overnight visits), 30 visits to Kangaroo Island and 13 visits to Port Lincoln. This is comprised of 21 different cruise ships scheduled, with a total capacity of 181,775 passengers and crew. As members can see, that is a 30,000 increase in the number of passengers and crew.

The 2017 cruise industry economic contribution report states that the cruise industry in South Australia contributed $98.5 million to the state's economy in the 2016-17 season, with 49 cruise ships welcoming 99,503 passengers and crew to South Australian ports and anchorages. Additionally, there is a benefit in showcasing South Australia and our regional destinations and experiences to thousands of passengers who may return to the state in future travel.

You can see that 2016-17 brought a $98.5 million benefit with 99,000 passengers. This year, we are expecting 181,000 passengers, so you can see, doing the simple arithmetic and maths, that there will be a benefit approaching $200 million to the economy.

In closing, I was fortunate enough to go to the Teakle auto classic at Easter time. That's in Port Lincoln. It is a great event and what the operators there are hoping to do is to get one or two cruise ships in at Easter the next time that event runs because, as members would be aware, events like that fill Port Lincoln; there is no accommodation left. Bringing in a couple of cruise ships delivers another 3,000 or 4,000 floating hotel rooms, which gets people into those regional communities. I think we are in for a very vibrant and prosperous future for cruising in South Australia.