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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-28 Daily Xml
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World Tourism Day

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:43): I rise to speak today in celebration of World Tourism Day yesterday. I would like to touch on some of the exciting tourism initiatives that are happening in Narungga and on Yorke Peninsula and celebrate the progress that is being made in such an important industry to our local economy.

One of the most exciting things happening at the moment is that the works that have been going on for quite some time at Port Wakefield are nearing completion. The minister let me know only last week that the second bridge on the northern side is finished and that traffic is flowing both ways more freely now. As that starts to take shape, I think we are starting to see a solution that will not only improve traffic flow but obviously make it far safer and beautify the township. With Crash Corner removed and the traffic flowing a bit more freely, it will be a far more attractive proposition for those visiting our region to get there a bit quicker, and they can stay a bit longer without having to cater for so much time on the road on the way home.

As part of that redevelopment, there is a really exciting opportunity to replace the outdated Welcome to Yorke Peninsula sign that exists currently adjacent to the BP there. I am working closely with YP Tourism to try to come up with a solution that might provide a suitable replacement. The Wakefield Regional Council has resolved to remove that sign, and that will be on its way down relatively soon.

Despite the sign's importance and the time it has been there, it is quite dilapidated and falling apart, so it is probably time for an upgrade, and that redevelopment poses a wonderful opportunity. YP Tourism has a new manager starting soon, Jess Greatwich, who I am eager to meet next week, when I will catch up with her and discuss the opportunity we have at Port Wakefield to replace that sign. It is a really important gateway to Yorke Peninsula, and it will be wonderful to have it signposted appropriately.

There is a really exciting season ahead, I think, for Yorke Peninsula and Narungga. It should be a wonderful summer. There are plenty of big, healthy crops around. It should be a beautiful summer tourism season, and we are looking forward to welcoming everyone. We had such a wonderful influx of visitors during the COVID period, and if we can maintain those numbers and ensure that those people come back it should be a boom time for the providers on Yorke Peninsula.

We still feel as though we are undersold as a tourism destination. There are so many opportunities on YP. It feels sometimes that we get flown over for other destinations, but I can tell you that YP is taking off as a tourism offering. There are wonderful opportunities aboard. I have been working closely with the council and some proponents because Edithburgh is much visited and one of the best dive sites in South Australia. We are trying get a dive platform there. I have been plugging away at that for a little while, and hopefully it is not too far on the horizon and we can make that more accessible for people who like to travel to go diving.

A new information centre is coming to Port Broughton, and the council has done a wonderful job. The CEO, Maree Wauchope, has done a wonderful job planning and making sure that it is not too far away. It will provide a wonderful opportunity for those who are visiting the region and Yorke Peninsula to get all the information they need, and it will be an attractive addition to the beachfront as well.

Of course, last year we had the inaugural Seafood on Spencer festival, which was a tremendous success. I popped up there after footy, and it was wonderful to see so many people there enjoying a nice, healthy feed of seafood, as well as a couple of beers from local brewers and that sort of stuff. It was wonderful to see, and of course in its second year it promises to be bigger and better again.

There are some tremendous opportunities on Yorke Peninsula for tourism. I still think that we could do with more promotion from HQ, making sure that people are aware of all the things they can do on Yorke Peninsula. I is becoming an increasingly profitable market for our local economy, with operators are starting to pop up and we are getting more and more visitors. As it continues to mature and grow, I am sure that tourism will become an increasingly important—not that it is not already—part of our local economy.

The final thing I want to do is to congratulate a friend of mine, Helly Easter-Smith, who won the Regional SA Woman Award at the SA Woman Awards on Saturday night. It is a wonderful prize for all the hard work she has put into the tourism industry itself. She operates Country Getaways, a large business that does short-term rentals for people wanting to visit YP.

She has grown that business to a significant operation now. She has a large number of homes she rents out to people visiting, and she does an excellent job in providing that service to our local tourism economy, so it is a well-deserved award. She has done a tremendous job, and I am looking forward to seeing that business continue to grow. Congratulations to Helly on her wonderful achievement.

Time expired.

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