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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-24 Daily Xml
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Hotel Capacity

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (15:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding hotel capacity.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: According to recent data from Tourism Accommodation Australia, Adelaide has about 2,294 hotel rooms across 14 hotels that are either under construction or in planning. TFE Hotels has also announced that it will open a new hotel on Flinders Street in 2020. My question to the minister is: during this period of extraordinary growth and investment in the hotel sector, why is the government cutting $11 million to the tourism budget?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:14): I thank the honourable member for her question. If I understand the question properly, it is: why are we cutting the budget in this time of exceptional growth? Most of the cuts were one-off expenditure—airline attraction, hosting an Australian tourism exchange and some other one-off events—but the cuts were quite minor. In fact, hotel capacity is a reflection that there is a high level of excitement in South Australia. That is why we have seen this Rewards Wonder campaign, that I have just spoken about, being so strongly supported.

We have a high level of interest in South Australia. We have committed, in this most recent budget, to a further $10 million for marketing because that is the stuff that drives people to this great state. I think it is fabulous that we have over 2,000 hotel rooms planned or under construction, and I expect we will see plenty more. As we get towards our target of $8 billion of visitor expenditure by 2020, as we get closer to 2020, there will be a plan and a target from 2025, 2030 or some point in the future. They know that if you have a long-term plan and you are investing in it, the hotel industry, the travel agent industry and the airline industry all look to that to see if it is a worthy investment.

We have not had any pushback at all from the hotel industry in relation to the most recent budget. They were delighted that we continued and that the Treasurer saw fit to continue the extra $10 million for marketing. As I said, the Rewards Wonder campaign that I just spoke about demonstrates that that marketing investment is sensible and wise. It is bringing a lot of interest to South Australia that will underpin the investment in both metropolitan South Australia and also in one of the areas that we need to focus on, regional South Australia. Some 40 per cent of all our visitor expenditure happens in the regions. If we get to $8 billion by 2020, that is $3.2 billion being spent in the regions. Regional operators need to be confident that we are spending money on marketing, letting people in the world know that South Australia is open for business so they can invest in their own regional accommodation offers.

One of the most recent announcements, the Port Wakefield intersection upgrade, is great for tourism operators on Yorke Peninsula. Often, people have to leave a day early because they know there is going to be a hell of a traffic snarl, or they don't go. Some investments there will also drive further investment. The government is looking at opportunities to invest and take, if you like, roadblocks or problems out of the tourists' journey so they can get to destinations quicker and stay a bit longer.

I don't uphold the member's view that we have made significant cuts into the tourism budget. We are still committed to marketing. The figures from the Rewards Wonder campaign back up the great investment by hotel developers and operators for the over 2,000 hotel rooms we are likely to see come onto the market in the next few years.

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