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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-13 Daily Xml
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Hotel Capacity

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:21): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding hotel supply.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.E. HANSON: Yesterday, Tourism Research Australia released the annual Australian Accommodation Monitor 2018-19 report. South Australia has reported a 1.2 per cent decline in room occupancy rates and a 2.6 per cent decline in revenue available per room. Industry estimates predict an approximate 20 per cent increase of Adelaide's hotel room supply by 2021. The accommodation industry has called for increased tourism marketing to attract more visitors to South Australia and avoid a glut in hotel rooms.

There are numerous high-profile hotel developments that have been announced, such as the SkyCity Casino 123-room hotel, the Sofitel's 257-room hotel, Crowne Plaza's 326-room hotel, Hyatt Regency's 295-room hotel—I could go on—and, of course, there's the taxpayer-supported 138-room Adelaide Oval hotel. My questions to the minister are:

1. How can the government afford $42 million for the Adelaide Oval hotel but cannot afford to support the broader tourism industry?

2. Will the government reverse its cuts that it has made to tourism and, if not, what message does the minister have for concerned investors and workers in the hotel industry?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:22): I thank the honourable member for his question and ongoing interest in the tourism sector. As we all know, the 2018-19 accommodation monitor was released last Friday. It is interesting that it reports on worldwide hotel performance metrics and how it is an opt-in measure for properties with 10 or more rooms. I think we need to have that for context.

This means that visitors to our state who stay with friends and family, or stay in caravans or camp, or stay in increasingly popular Airbnb's are not included in the data. The latest data for the South Australian hotel market is relatively flat, with occupancy and revenue per available room down marginally by 2.6 per cent to $112. This was the case nationally, with the revenue per available room down 2.4 per cent to $138.

The honourable member talks about investing in tourism. Our government is focused on growing the visitor economy and it is now at a record $7.6 billion—it has never been that high—some 18,000 businesses across the state and over 30,000 people employed. The plan for the 2030 visitor economy is a $12 billion visitor economy, with some 51,000 people being employed. We have this wonderful opportunity to take it from $7.6 billion to $12 billion. We have an exciting events calendar and are bringing in an exciting range of world-class events and festivals to Adelaide.

Only yesterday, the Premier and I had the great pleasure of announcing South Australia's involvement in the bid to bring the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup to Australia. I am sure if we are successful we will fill the hotels to the brim in 2023. We also had the Matildas versus Chile here. We are continually looking at ways to bring international events to South Australia.

Of course, we have the festival season coming up, where we have the tennis, a new and exciting tennis opportunity to bring tourists to South Australia; the Tour Down Under; WOMADelaide; the Fringe; and the rest of Mad March. Members can see that we remain committed to growing the visitor economy and making sure that the investors in these hotels continue to get a good return on their investment.

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