Shadow Minister Media Releases
Big Decline In NSW Visitor Numbers (26/09/2008)
The latest National Visitor Survey released by Tourism Research Australia shows that domestic visitors to New South Wales have fallen by 511,000 in the last 12 months. During the same period Victoria’s domestic visitor numbers have increased by 378,000.
“These figures show the NSW Labor Government is asleep at the wheel,” Don Page MP, Shadow Minister for Tourism said.
“How bad have things got to get in NSW tourism before this Labor Government acts?” he said.
“NSW has great tourism product and we should not be losing business to Victoria,” he said.
The recently released O’Neill Report said $3.5billion had been lost in tourism revenue in NSW over the past 7 years.
“Premier Rees recently gave the Tourism portfolio to the most junior Minister in his Cabinet. This is indicative of the low importance the Rees Government places on Tourism in NSW. In both Victoria and Queensland tourism is given a much higher priority.
“The O’Neill Report clearly outlined major recommendations including an extra $21.5million this year for regional tourism. To date, precisely none of the recommendations have been acted upon.
“The previous Premier announced a $40million addition to the tourism budget over the next three years. But with the recent revelations of this State Governments budget blowout, that extra funding is now in serious doubt,” Mr Page said.
“I asked the new Tourism Minister during question time yesterday if she would guarantee the promised additional funding. No commitment was forthcoming,” Mr Page said.
“Tourism employs 156,000 people in NSW and is a real economic driver,” he said.
Further figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the financial pain that the NSW tourism industry is feeling.
“The number of jobs, beds and accommodation establishments have all dropped during the June quarter this year as compared with the June quarter last year,” Mr Page said.
“The figures show that visitors are staying for shorter durations leading to a decrease in income for accommodation providers.
“I call on both the new Premier and Tourism Minister to guarantee the promised additional $40million funding (over three years) for Tourism in NSW is delivered now,” Mr Page said.
