Mr KIELY - 2006-05-03
Tourism received great news in yesterday’s budget. Can the minister elaborate on what the budget means for this key Territory industry?
Mrs Braham: You are supposed to read it and find out for yourself.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson …
Mr Kiely: But I like hearing the story.
Mrs Braham: Do you want a copy?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, I would have thought a question on tourism would have been of interest to Alice Springs members. For the information of the members for Braitling and Araluen, tourism is our second biggest industry and employs directly or indirectly 15% of our workforce. It is a very important question, and you should keenly listen to the answer. I am surprised.
Tourism was the big winner in yesterday’s budget - an increase of $10m for marketing on an ongoing basis. We have put that in place over the last three years, and that will continue. What it means is that we have a total marketing budget in tourism of $27.6m. We have $2.8m for tourism infrastructure, $1m going into our convention bureau, and $1m going into attracting new airlines to the Territory.
Those dollars are very strategic; they are very important in growing our Territory economy and the numbers of tourists that come to the Territory. We have seen what additional marketing and that permanent funding increase can do to the numbers coming to the Territory. For example, last year, additional marketing meant that we had an increase of 39% in domestic tourists to the Territory. That means jobs.
In the international market, which we have still to grow and target, there was an increase of 4%, and that is without the effect of Tiger Airways. That permanent increase in funding means that we can grow those numbers right across the Territory and, importantly, we can maintain our competitive edge. There are other states in Australia marketing as well and, unless we keep those dollars up and focused, we will lose our competitive edge.
We will continue marketing the six destinations across the Territory, we will boost our international marketing and, importantly, with this money, we can tackle online. Around 75% of the travellers we are specifically targeting access information about tourism and book products online, and we can do a lot more with the online. There is much we can do and continue to do with those marketing dollars.
The feedback from the industry has been extremely positive, not surprisingly. Sylvia Wolf, from Tourism Top End, who never minces her words, says the $10m increase is a clear indicator of the government’s commitment to the tourism industry. The Tourism and Transport Forum, a national body, in a quite long media release, says that the Northern Territory is leading Australia in tourism investment and other state governments would be wise to follow the NT’s example and invest more in tourism. I say to them: ‘Not yet. Let us get ahead of them first’. We recognise the importance of tourism to our economy and have been pleased to see it pick up over the last two years. We have much more growth to do but it is a very exciting industry with exciting times to come.
Mrs Braham: You are supposed to read it and find out for yourself.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson …
Mr Kiely: But I like hearing the story.
Mrs Braham: Do you want a copy?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, I would have thought a question on tourism would have been of interest to Alice Springs members. For the information of the members for Braitling and Araluen, tourism is our second biggest industry and employs directly or indirectly 15% of our workforce. It is a very important question, and you should keenly listen to the answer. I am surprised.
Tourism was the big winner in yesterday’s budget - an increase of $10m for marketing on an ongoing basis. We have put that in place over the last three years, and that will continue. What it means is that we have a total marketing budget in tourism of $27.6m. We have $2.8m for tourism infrastructure, $1m going into our convention bureau, and $1m going into attracting new airlines to the Territory.
Those dollars are very strategic; they are very important in growing our Territory economy and the numbers of tourists that come to the Territory. We have seen what additional marketing and that permanent funding increase can do to the numbers coming to the Territory. For example, last year, additional marketing meant that we had an increase of 39% in domestic tourists to the Territory. That means jobs.
In the international market, which we have still to grow and target, there was an increase of 4%, and that is without the effect of Tiger Airways. That permanent increase in funding means that we can grow those numbers right across the Territory and, importantly, we can maintain our competitive edge. There are other states in Australia marketing as well and, unless we keep those dollars up and focused, we will lose our competitive edge.
We will continue marketing the six destinations across the Territory, we will boost our international marketing and, importantly, with this money, we can tackle online. Around 75% of the travellers we are specifically targeting access information about tourism and book products online, and we can do a lot more with the online. There is much we can do and continue to do with those marketing dollars.
The feedback from the industry has been extremely positive, not surprisingly. Sylvia Wolf, from Tourism Top End, who never minces her words, says the $10m increase is a clear indicator of the government’s commitment to the tourism industry. The Tourism and Transport Forum, a national body, in a quite long media release, says that the Northern Territory is leading Australia in tourism investment and other state governments would be wise to follow the NT’s example and invest more in tourism. I say to them: ‘Not yet. Let us get ahead of them first’. We recognise the importance of tourism to our economy and have been pleased to see it pick up over the last two years. We have much more growth to do but it is a very exciting industry with exciting times to come.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016