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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-16 Daily Xml
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Trade Missions

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister update the council about his recent trips to China and Hong Kong, and how the South Australian government is furthering its trade and tourism sectors abroad?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in growing our trade. As members would be aware, I travelled to China and Hong Kong from 15 to 22 September. Interestingly, while in Hong Kong, I discovered that no minister had travelled there for at least two years, and they were delighted to have me there.

More importantly, I was in Guangzhou and I participated in a bid to secure the Nu Skin incentive program for Adelaide in 2020. If the bid is successful, the event will see an additional 6,000 Chinese visitors come to Adelaide as part of a group incentive package. I understand the conversations with Nu Skin have been progressing positively since then. I also had the opportunity to meet again with Infinitus Group, having participated in a pitch for this incentive group's business whilst in Guangzhou in April, earlier this year.

Discussions with Infinitus are progressing well, and we are confident that Adelaide is being carefully considered as a possible destination also for their 2020 incentive visit. If successful, this would involve over 8,000 delegates visiting Adelaide and the regions in June 2020. More importantly, separate from the incentive bid, Infinitus has committed to purchasing a significant quantity of bottled wine from South Australian wineries, which is a fantastic achievement so early in this relationship. In fact, it has been described to me by some wine experts as the single biggest order ever to be placed in South Australia to one customer.

As part of the Guangzhou business program, I met with the Consul-General and Senior Trade Commissioner. They facilitated a meeting with local top enterprises and I highlighted key developments in the South Australian health sector, including the Adelaide biomedical health precinct, retirement living and related infrastructure, and discussed potential investments in health, aged care and medical tourism. As part of this discussion, invitations were extended for this group to visit South Australia in the near future to explore potential investment opportunities.

One of the main reasons for visiting Guangzhou was to participate in the official handover from Guangzhou to Adelaide of the World Routes aviation conference. World Routes is the largest aviation business-to-business event in the world and brings together tourism organisations, airline executives, route planners and airports. Adelaide has won the right to host this event in September 2019, which will see over 3,000 delegates attend the event at the Adelaide Showground over a three-day period.

The South Australian Tourism Commission will host a number of famils to allow delegates to take in the very best of what South Australia has to offer. At the World Routes conference, I met with senior executives from UBM, the owners of World Routes. They are extremely excited about coming to Adelaide next year, and the response from delegates has been overwhelming.

I then moved on to the Hong Kong leg of the visit, which was also busy and included round tables with outbound tourism operators and agribusiness trade buyers and investors. I used these as a platform to promote the benefits of South Australia from a tourism perspective and also seek feedback on how we can improve our offering. I shared the latest developments and capabilities in premium food and wine production in South Australia. Increased opportunities were identified and discussed for trade buyers to invest upstream along the supply chain to secure future benefits for South Australia.

I also had the opportunity to meet with companies such as Lan Kwai Fong Group, Young Brothers Aviation and Shangri-La hotels group to discuss further investment opportunities in South Australia. I would like to thank the Department for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the South Australian Tourism Commission and the Adelaide Convention Bureau for doing a great job in putting this program together, which was held in some very treacherous weather. Of course, members would be aware the typhoon went through Hong Kong and Guangzhou while we were there.

One of the buildings I was in on the Friday in Hong Kong, on the Tuesday during the typhoon was swaying 1.2 metres side to side, so I am glad I wasn't in that building. In the hotel I was staying at in Guangzhou, Mr President—

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Point of order.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: —the typhoon was strong enough that the water feature on the 70th floor—

The PRESIDENT: Relevance, the Hon. Mr Ridgway. Relevance.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Relevance. I am almost done; I have one line left to go. The water feature was—

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Point of order.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: —slopping from side to side.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: How far and which way the honourable minister swings I don't think is relevant to this question in particular.

The PRESIDENT: I did raise it with the minister. He has about 15 seconds left, according to my clock.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: In particular, I would like to thank our representative in Hong Kong, Alice Jim, and Mr Ben Tuffnell from the SATC for their great executive support during this visit.

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