Parliamentary Speeches
Tourism Industry on North Coast ( 06/03/2008)
Mr DONALD PAGE (Ballina) [4.10 p.m.]: I bring to the attention of the House the dismal State of the tourism industry in the Ballina electorate, the North Coast and, indeed, across New South Wales. In my electorate of Ballina we have just experienced an extremely difficult tourist season due to persistent rain and floods. The flood in the Richmond River in January led to a fish kill of enormous proportions, forcing the closure of the river to recreational and professional fishing. This, together with a long period of wet weather, did enormous damage to the local tourism industry. An economic impact survey undertaken by Northern Rivers Tourism estimated a loss of $18.2 million to the tourism industry in the Northern Rivers region. The wet weather and flood—which was declared a natural disaster—experienced during December and January are clearly unfortunate. There is little anyone can do to change the weather.
However, Northern Rivers tourism businesses have been further affected by the general malaise in the tourism industry across the State. Numerous reports have been produced by industry bodies and reported in the media about the downturn New South Wales tourism has been experiencing since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. This Labor Government has severely neglected the tourism industry in this State for a long time. Sydney is the only Olympic Games city to experience a tourism downturn after hosting the largest event in the world. For regional tourism, Sydney is the gateway for many overseas tourists. This Government has consistently cut its tourism promotion budget over the past eight years so that it is now 11 per cent lower in real terms than it was in its 2001 budget. The Government's budget cuts are clearly reflected in the declining number of visitors coming to New South Wales, which is down from 33 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2006.
The failure of the New South Wales Labor Government to promote New South Wales in Victoria, Queensland and overseas has obviously affected regional areas such as the North Coast. The New South Wales Government is aware of the sorry state of the tourism industry. That is evidenced by its commissioning of the John O'Neill review into Tourism New South Wales early in 2007. The Government has had the report of that review since late last year and the industry is anxiously awaiting its release. I wonder why it is taking the Government so long to release it. Could it be so critical of this Government that the Premier's office is rewriting sections of it to get the Government's spin on the document? I call on the Government to release this important report immediately so that its recommendations can be acted on to lift the tourism industry in New South Wales out of its long slump.
Of course, the state of tourism on the North Coast and in regional areas generally is directly linked to what is happening in New South Wales as a whole. Certainly, the figures do not look good. Domestic visitor expenditure by visitors to New South Wales has fallen by 14 per cent since 2000, New South Wales tourism budget expenditure per visitor is the lowest of all States and Territories, and New South Wales has failed to increase its share of total State and Territory tourism budget expenditure since 2002-03. While New South Wales tourism has been in the doldrums, our neighbouring States have been increasing their market share. Victoria's tourism industry is booming. This is the result of the Victorian State Government's increasing its tourism budget by 44 per cent during the same period that the New South Wales Government decided to cut its tourism budget in real terms by 11 per cent. Consequently, New South Wales has lost market share and Victoria and Queensland have increased their market shares.
A recent Tourism Business Alliance report recommends that the New South Wales Government increase its tourism marketing budget by $20 million a year above the current level with the aim of increasing New South Wales tourism's current market share. I strongly support this recommendation because it will increase the number of visitors, both domestic and international, to New South Wales. This will in turn lead to an increase in investment, innovation and employment in the tourism industry, including in regional areas such as the North Coast. Returning to the situation in the electorate of Ballina, I was pleased to see the Federal and State governments announce a $600,000 tourism recovery package for the North Coast following the recent floods. Local State Nationals members lobbied for this assistance package, as did Federal members.
Northern Rivers Tourism has now met with Tourism New South Wales and they have decided that the way forward is to establish a project management committee and to appoint a project manager for the allocation of this funding to appropriate activities. They plan a marketing campaign, public relations and other activities over time to boost North Coast tourism. I encourage Northern Rivers Tourism and Tourism New South Wales to get on with promoting tourism on the North Coast as soon as possible because people involved in tourism are hurting badly. They need something positive to come from this funding and they need it quickly. It is now March and Easter is only two weeks away and the New South Wales school holidays are only five weeks away. They should be out there promoting the North Coast as soon as possible. I sincerely hope this is not another example of this Labor Government's inaction and neglect of an industry that should be the lifeblood of this State and the North Coast region.
