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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-09-25 Daily Xml
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World Tourism Day

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (12:50): I move:

That this house—

(a) acknowledges that 27 September is World Tourism Day; and

(b) acknowledges the importance of tourism for the culture and economy of South Australia.

Today, I rise to celebrate the United Nations World Tourism Day. It is recognised each year on 27 September. The date is there to recognise and celebrate the enormous benefits of tourism globally.

The theme for this year is 'Tourism and jobs—a better future for all'. This is an appropriate theme, as tourism generates 10 per cent of jobs globally. We can reflect this locally in South Australia, where 39,000 people are directly employed within the visitor economy. We have 18,000 tourism businesses operating in our state and more than 13,000 hotel rooms across 269 properties.

Often called the 'visitor economy', tourism is worth $7.2 billion to the South Australian economy. What is most important to me is this is a significant industry across all of South Australia; 43 per cent is spent in regional South Australia, providing an invaluable boost and diversity in the economy throughout the regions. Since the creation of the South Australian Tourism Plan 2020, launched in 2014 by the then state Labor government, the value of tourism to our state has grown from $5.1 billion to the current $7.2 billion.

We are incredibly fortunate to enjoy picturesque scenery, diverse regions, amazing food and wine and the increasing distillery sector, and, of course, we have a jam-packed calendar full of festivals and events that drive tourism. South Australia has unique experiences such as shark diving in Port Lincoln, mountain biking in the Flinders Ranges, sandboarding on Kangaroo Island, cave exploration in Naracoorte and wine tasting in McLaren Vale and throughout the Adelaide Hills and many other regions.

More than 450,000 international visitors arrive in South Australia every year, and that is alongside nearly 85,000 domestic airlines seats that we fill weekly. We know that tourism has great benefits for South Australia, and it is clear that tourism equals jobs. At the moment, we are hosting a very special event in South Australia. It is the World Routes Conference, a major airline industry conference that has attracted nearly 3,000 delegates from around the world. They send representatives from airlines, airports and tourism authorities to discuss the potential of new air services, and we are hosting them right here in Adelaide.

In 2016, the Weatherill Labor government made a successful bid for Adelaide to host the first World Routes Conference in Australia for this year. It is disappointing, though, because the Premier said, when asked about World Routes in January this year, that it would be wonderful to have something to announce at the World Routes Conference. Unfortunately, there have been no announcements.

This is a further missed opportunity, with no new flights secured at this conference, and it comes at a time when we have had recent announcements of the closure of the Adelaide offices of Emirates and Singapore Airlines. An operator recently shared with me their concerns that tourism appears to be undervalued by the current Liberal government, that with all the focus on new and admittedly exciting sectors such as space, creative industries and defence, tourism is being passed by.

This is despite the fact that every government dollar invested in tourism creates reliable, sustainable and regional stimulus to the economy and increases jobs throughout South Australia. We know that other states are increasing their investment rather than withdrawing at this critical time. What we have seen the Marshall Liberal government do is slug the tourism industry with increased taxes and cuts to marketing and sector development.

Tourism is global, and tourism is very competitive. It is made up of literally hundreds and thousands of small to medium-sized businesses that work hard, invest their own dollars and have a passion for this sector. They are increasingly feeling left out of the equation. The Marshall Liberal government plan to cut $23 million from the tourism budget over five years hurts.

In the first budget, it was an $11 million cut, and this year the government announced $12 million more in cuts over the next four years, reducing tourism marketing to a five-year low. This is having a real and measurable impact on the visitor economy. In recent information from Tourism Research Australia, we know there are negative growth forecasts, and this reflects how poorly this government has performed in the tourism portfolio. We need to better market South Australia, locally, nationally and to the world.

We have had some positive announcements recently. It is great that the 2020 Adventure Travel World Summit is going to be held in Adelaide. I think we are an ideal location. We have some exciting opportunities for people to experience adventures here. And, of course, as of last week there is Monarto zoo's new name—Monarto Safari Park—and the $40 million upgrade will be fantastic. Here in South Australia, you can enjoy the largest safari experience outside of Africa. These are fantastic opportunities. However, for the growth to be realised, there has to be meaningful and genuine commitment from the state government to support this sector, and that commitment is currently lacking.

Members, I ask you to support this motion, because here we are celebrating United Nations World Tourism Day. It is an industry that has experienced global success, growth upon growth every year. We love to welcome international visitors to Australia. We know that they have very high intentions of coming to Australia; what we need to do is convert them to actual visitation. Often, people have us on their bucket list. We want to say you can come at every stage of your life: come and do a backpacking opportunity, come to Australia when you have your honeymoon, come again and bring the kids, and come again when you retire. What we need, though, in this super growth industry is investment and commitment to growth.

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (12:58): I have only a few short minutes to comment on World Tourism Day, so I will make it brief, noticing that the focus this year is on tourism and jobs. Certainly, that is very important for the Marshall government. Growing tourism is very important here in South Australia, particularly in Morphett, in Glenelg. You will have noticed, maybe, the recent announcement, the welcome news that the government has launched a feasibility study into the options, looking at the redevelopment of the Glenelg jetty, to activate it and make it a tourism drawcard.

Specifically, it will consider all options, and certainly of interest from my point of view is looking into potentially having a jetty that is activated via a ferry, that allows a ferry service between Glenelg and Kangaroo Island, and potentially also looking at connecting up Glenelg to the Yorke Peninsula. There are certainly opportunities there for a ferry service. We could also look at having a tender service, where cruise ships could tender their cruise line passengers into Glenelg, which is very accessible, with the tram into the city. This would not only activate Glenelg and South Australia but also help grow businesses in Morphett. Looking at that, I think there is a really worthwhile prospect there. I commend the minister, who is here in the house at the moment, for progressing this initiative, and I look forward to working with the Marshall government to progress tourism in this state.

Motion carried.

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