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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-05-14 Daily Xml
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TOURISM

Mr RAU (Enfield) (14:56): My question is directed to the Minister for Tourism. How is the state government working with the tourism industry in response to the current global economic downturn?

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:56): As one would know, we are in tough economic times around the world, and business and job security is under stress around the world. Certainly our tourism industry is not immune in these times of uncertainty. However, the industry is a great driver of employment and business growth.

At this sort of time, we have to recognise, however, that tourists are affected by overall confidence, their employment opportunities and their own businesses around the world and many plans to travel are altered. Long-haul travellers are tending to go for shorter distances, and interstate visitors are tending to go to more domestic locations. We have to be flexible and focused in making sure that our businesses survive in these difficult times.

Despite the challenges, however, we are sharpening our approach to marketing and making sure that we use this period to work internationally and nationally to the best advantage of our tourism operators. We have a new tourism plan which is designed to make our industry sustainable and survive into the future through these difficult months. Whilst we cannot control global forces, we can work in a more dedicated manner, and we are promoting events and attractions to make sure that we boost the profile of all the opportunities and reasons to come to South Australia.

For instance, our 2009 Tour Down Under was extraordinarily successful, bringing almost double the number of interstate and overseas visitors, compared to the previous year, and that meant more expenditure in hotels, restaurants and shops. Our cruise ship season has been especially successful with a cruise ship based in South Australia for the first time making trips along the coastline and welcoming 23,000 passengers—an extraordinary number for this new innovative Southern Ocean cruising holiday opportunity.

Our biggest domestic advertising campaign ever is occurring currently. We have invested, as a government, $4.5 million and have been supported by industry and industry leaders bringing the sum invested up to $7.5 million, which shows that when you work together and produce a collaborative approach, you can have an extraordinary impact. That $7.5 million strategy has already had effects.

Whilst we do not have the overall tourism arrival data yet from the first quarter of this year, we can see that, in February, our website visits at southaustralia.com were up 23 per cent on the same month last year, and in March there were almost 160,000 visits to southaustralia.com—a 42 per cent increase over the previous year. The campaign also generated 10,000 phone calls and emails to our visitor information centres and, during its first three months, this is an extraordinary outcome. Expenditure on consumer marketing by the commission has more than doubled in the last two years. This is an extraordinary realignment of our expenditure and has paralleled the realignment of our services to match our Strategic Plan.

Like the rest of the world, we have a way to go to weather these tough economic times. However, recent analysis of our industry suggests that we are well positioned to withstand the global economic downturn. Whilst we have good relations with the industry, a fabulous partnership in marketing, we have much to celebrate. Like the tourism industry generally, I feel optimistic about the future.

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