SA TOURISM NOS PLUMMET – LIBS SAY RANN GOVT TO BLAME

South Australia’s tourism industry is angered that the latest National Visitor Survey figures confirm a dramatic slump in visitor numbers and nights. Liberal Shadow Tourism Minister Joan Hall said the Rann Government had failed tourism operators in South Australia by its failure to invest in this key economic sector. Ms Hall was commenting on the latest National Visitor Survey figures which show domestic visitor numbers to SA had fallen from 5.9 million in 03/04 to just 5.3 million in 04/05, and a 10% decrease in visitor nights. “The Rann Government has slashed millions of dollars from the tourism budget - four State Budgets, four consecutive cuts, four years of neglect and four years of missed opportunities,” she said. “The latest tourism indicators show how badly we are suffering and give a frightening snapshot of what is to come under a Labor Government that does not support or give priority to the tourism industry,” she said. “They demonstrate that platitudes are no substitute for marketing dollars and spin is no substitute for substance. “We need a new domestic marketing campaign. The award winning Secrets campaign is now more than 8 years old and is tired. Now is the time to invest in a new campaign with a new focus.” Ms Hall said the detail of the latest survey figures would confirm that tourism operators outside of Adelaide would be particularly hard hit because of not only a lack of visitors and visitor nights, but the added extra of skyrocketing petrol prices. “A number of tourism operators outside a two-hour drive time – or 200km and/or a half-day radius from Adelaide – are hanging on by their fingernails now and its hurting,” she said. “The tourism sector generates more than $3.4 billion each year and employs thousands of South Australians. “Labor cannot continue to blame September 11, the Ansett collapse, or SARS. “The rest of Australia experienced a fallout from those events, but they took stock, invested and are now booming, in particular Western Australia and Queensland. “The government, and Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith, must invest in this important industry and make it an immediate priority.”