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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-05 Daily Xml
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Major Events

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:52): My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister update the council about how the government's 2018-19 budget is delivering for the tourism sector to attract major events and grow our visitor economy here in South Australia?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:53): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in the visitor economy and major events. The 2018-19 state budget is delivering more funding for the tourism sector to grow South Australia's visitor economy and create more jobs with the new government—the Marshall government—fulfilling its election commitments to boost the events bid fund and further strengthen South Australia's outstanding tourism offerings across the state.

Members would be aware that the new government has provided $21.5 million more over four years to increase the event bid funding to secure more lucrative major events and conventions to increase visitation, create employment and drive economic growth. Members would be aware that about 66 per cent of participants at conventions come back and visit a destination with either their family or their friends after they have been at a convention.

In fact, the South Australian Tourism Commission is already communicating with all of the regional stakeholders because one of the things that we did in the election commitment was to change the mandate of the Convention Bureau to not only be bidding for conventions that are held in the Convention Centre but across metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia. The Tourism Commission has already begun communicating with regional stakeholders about the types of events that they might like to bid for to attract to their regional community.

Also, although a relatively small amount of money, the development of the Great Southern Bike Trail has been kickstarted with just $100,000 to do a study on the existing assets and what infrastructure needs to be improved so that we can put together the proper business case. Interestingly, just the announcement of that policy in the last—it's not quite six months since the election and, as I alluded to yesterday, I have had 19 three-hour meetings around the state—there has been tremendous interest in the bike trail.

The Limestone Coast regional tourism group based in Mount Gambier has come up with a cycling and trails policy. It is trying to develop a whole range of trails. The Naracoorte council has put in its budget this year as going forward doing a cycling trail and walking trail from the Naracoorte township out to the Naracoorte Caves. The Murraylands and Riverland tourism bodies have put together cycling and walking trails along the River Murray. I was in Clare last week, or the week before, and they are now looking at wanting to connect the Riesling Trail along the old railway corridor alignment down to the Barossa and eventually into Adelaide. Just that one announcement, looking at what we can do to connect Adelaide and Melbourne, has created tremendous interest in touring cycling.

It is interesting that we always think of the men in lycra and the Lance Armstrongs of this world, but the development of e-bikes, ones that have a battery, assist people with maybe even my physique to ride a bike. I had the pleasure of being offered a ride on an e-bike in Melrose when I was on one of those trips, and it was a life-changing experience. It was like I was 18 again, the speed at which I shot up the road. It was quite amazing. If it can make me feel like an 18 year old then there must be hundreds of millions of people who will come to our state and ride on these great trails.

The budget this year also includes another $4.9 million to support the hosting of major events in South Australia, which is in addition to the increased funding for the major events bid fund this year. The other really important factor is that the Marshall government has made additional funding for international marketing, another $10 million for 2019-20, to invest in marketing our great state to the world. The Marshall government wants to showcase South Australia to the world and, clearly, this budget demonstrates that we are committed to doing that.

It is important to note that the visitor economy, as I mentioned yesterday, is a tremendous support to our regional communities, with 41 per cent of visitor expenditure in regional South Australia. By investing in these major events, investing the extra $10 million of additional marketing expenditure, it includes funding to grow opportunities and merging international markets like China, while maintaining our traditional strong markets of the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and New Zealand. We will also be running marketing campaigns on the national stage, promoting tourism experiences in Adelaide and South Australia's wonderful regions.

Importantly, the outcomes of the additional marketing spend will be analysed in detail over the next 12 months to ensure an appropriate level of future marketing spend to grow South Australia's economy into the future. The Marshall government is delivering on its commitment to grow the South Australian tourism sector and building a strong foundation for South Australia's future.

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