Tourism Advertising

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:09): Yes, it is. Can the minister explain: since the start of the 'old mate' campaign, does he have figures on the number of tourists that have come to South Australia?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:09): If I have a quick look, I may have some figures at my fingertips. From a figures point of view, I may not have the actual number of tourists who have come, but we have seen some responses from a number of commentators who have said that it got people talking about South Australia. We know the extent of the free publicity for the 'old mate' campaign. It attracted some $2.5 million of free marketing activity. It was targeted at 25 to 55 year olds. It was a message we wanted to say: 'Don't put off coming to South Australia.'

At $7.6 billion, we are at the highest this state has ever been for visitor expenditure. People like Waleed Aly have said, 'What better way to sell Adelaide than telling people the story through old mate?' David Koch of Sunrise, a prominent South Australian, said, 'Given we are all talking about it, it's a bit quirky, but, hey, looking at these young people having a great time, the good message is: go to Adelaide and enjoy it.' They go on, including Mark Beretta from Sunrise as well. We know that, at $7.6 billion, this marketing campaign is one of the strongest—

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: Point of order, sir: what is the relevance of the response the minister is making when he was asked a question simply on tourism figures? Nothing in that response refers to tourism figures.

The PRESIDENT: The minister has some latitude.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: Yes, extreme latitude.

The PRESIDENT: The minister is attempting to answer the question. I am going to allow the minister some further latitude. Minister.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: As I said, we have a record spend in visitor expenditure. I am trying to quantify it. I do not have the figure of the exact number of people who have travelled to South Australia, but the numbers when it comes to visitor expenditure and the dollars that are spent in the mum-and-dad businesses in this state are at record highs.