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ELECTION CAMPAIGN WRAP-UP

We have identified five policy priorities for tourism industry recovery, as set out in our Tourism Industry Recovery Agenda.

As part of our final Weekly Election Update, we asked the parties that have directly engaged with us to complete a table showing how they have committed to, or support, our proposals. Below, we have compiled their answers concisely for your viewing.

Business Restart & Reinvestment

Lauren Schroeder

Driving Demand

Lauren Schroeder

Infrastructure & Experience Development

Lauren Schroeder

Business Capability & Workforce

 

Lauren Schroeder

Partnerships & Collaboration

KEY

Committed in full
Committed in part
Support in principle

Click each of the tabs below to read the full list of our asks and the parties’ responses.

POLICY PRIORITY 1: BUSINESS RESTART & REINVESTMENT

 

Recovery is not business as usual, and a considered approach is required. To enable businesses to restart and invest in reactivating their activities, they need direct and indirect financial support.

 

DIRECT SUPPORT REQUEST:

State Government to commit to a new SA Tourism, Events & Hospitality Restart & Recovery Fund consisting of $10 million per year over 3 years:

•          Business restart and investment co-investment fund.

•          Relief for government fees, charges, and taxes.

•          Festival and event insurance underwriting.
Liberal Committed to Great Outdoors Fund, $25m over 5 years, supported the Adelaide Fringe with insurance underwriting
Labor Committed to $40m Major Events Fund over 4 years to attract new events to the state
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Recognise and support Quality Tourism Accreditation programs as a vehicle for operators to demonstrate compliance with existing regulatory requirements.
Liberal Have previously provided TiCSA with $600k funding in past 3 years
Labor Have committed to $1.6mil for TiCSA over 4 years
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Reduce complexity and red tape for tourism operators’ compliance obligations
Liberal Implementation of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations are underway
Labor Supports recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s Tourism Regulation Review
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

POLICY PRIORITY 2: DRIVING DEMAND

 

To restore the value of tourism and hold market share gains, demand needs to be stimulated locally, interstate and internationally.

 

State Government to commit to an SA Tourism Demand Stimulus package:

  • $10 million/year for short-term activation and tactical activities to motivate local and interstate visitors to book SA tours, experiences and accommodation.
  • Boost SATC’s marketing budget by $25 million/year over the forward estimates to enable SA to vie for visitor attention in the extraordinarily competitive interstate and international markets.
Liberal Have committed to Great Outdoors Fund, $25m over 5 years, previously funded Great State Vouchers as short-term activations
Labor Committed to $20m in marketing funding over 2 years to drive demand
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Develop a festivals and events strategy as a blueprint for the scheduling and acquisition of new events that play to the state’s brand, long-standing reputation as the ‘festival state’ and result in dispersing visitors across the state (i.e. Illuminate). The strategy should ensure that the social, cultural, and economic impacts of events are festivals are measured.
Liberal Will strive for more events, more often
Labor Committed to a $40m Major Events Fund over 4 years to attract new events and support events calendar
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Continue the Leisure Events Bid Fund.
Liberal  
Labor  
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Continue to recognise the critical role of the Adelaide Convention Bureau in securing. business events for South Australia, which generate more than $2 billion per year to the state’s economy.
Liberal Funding for the future of the ACB secured through the Department of Premier and Cabinet
Labor Will continue to attract business events through Major Events Fund, $40m over 4 years
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

  Communicate local Visitor Information Centre resources and services to consumers when promoting or encouraging tourism to a particular region.
Liberal Prteviously, and continued, use of southaustralia.com to convey information to consumers
Labor   No response received
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

POLICY PRIORITY 3: INFRASTRUCTURE & EXPERIENCE DEVELOPMENT

 

To attract visitors to the state we need to ensure our infrastructure and experiences are world-class, innovative, and enticing. Fundamental to this is the policy principle that private sector investment will be stimulated by public investment in the growth of the industry.

 

State Government to re-commit and boost existing programs that stimulate private investment in Tourism Infrastructure and Experiences including:

  • Tourism Industry Development Fund (TIDF) – $20 million per year for 3 years.
  • ‘Parks 2025’ Nature-Based Tourism Co-Investment Fund – $5 million per year for 3 years.
  • Establish a new Tourism Icon Fund to be established as a sub-program of either the TIDF or RGF – $10 million per year for 3 years
Liberal Committed to Great Outdoors Fund, $25m over 3 years
Labor

$2m grants to small businesses offering nature-based tourism experiences in parks

No insight into current Liberal commitments to other funding
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Funding eligibility across such funds must be amended to enable greater accessibility for micro and small businesses, businesses across metropolitan Adelaide, and local government-run commercial tourism enterprises.
Liberal Will assess in line with best jobs growth to provide best return on investment
Labor   Will investigate if elected as government
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  In setting regional infrastructure priorities, Infrastructure SA to use the South Australian Regional Visitor Strategy 2025 as a key reference.
Liberal Infrastructure SA uses the SA Regional Visitor Strategy 2025 as a key reference.
Labor   Will use the Regional Visitor Strategy 2025 as a reference
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

 

  Invest and deliver demand-driving infrastructure, for example, the Riverbank Arena as a multi-purpose venue that will generate significant direct and flow-on economic activity for the tourism and hospitality industries.
Liberal Committed to the Riverbank Arena to provide direct business and leisure tourism growth
Labor   No response received
Greens   The Greens absolutely support infrastructure that would improve our State’s ability to host events, conferences, and more – but in its current form we cannot support the Riverbank Arena given its impact on the Adelaide Parklands. More work needs to be done to see this idea realised.
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

POLICY PRIORITY 4: BUSINESS CAPABILITY & WORKFORCE

 

To enable businesses to grow they need a workforce that is willing, skilled, and enthusiastic to be part of the industry for the long term. Therefore, investment is required to reverse the damage to the desirability of tourism as a long-term career opportunity and to make sure the industry has access to the training and capability development support it needs to thrive.

 

State Government to commit to Tourism Business Capability Support program to be delivered by industry for industry:

  • $1 million / year for 3 years for capability development workshops and mentoring program to be administered by industry bodies
Liberal Have previously invested $600,000 in TiCSA over past 3 years to hold capability development workshops
Labor Committed to $1.6m over 4 years to TiCSA to hold capability development workshops
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle, would support $1.5m per year for 5 years

 

 

  Commit to developing a whole-of-state strategy and actions to address growing tourism industry skills shortages and operator capabilities
Liberal The Marshall Liberal Government have previously used a state-wide skills strategy that covers and supports all industries
Labor Committed to $1.6m over 4 years to TiCSA to address industry capability and skills
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

  Department of Human Services to work with the tourism industry to help attract and better support volunteers in the region
Liberal Previously implemented Volunteer Certificate Recognition Program, previously commited to Volunteering Strategy for South Australia 2021-2027, made screening checks free in 2018
Labor   No response received
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

  Hold a joint round table with tourism and hospitality industry leaders with the Minister for Tourism, Minister for Innovation and Skills, and Minister for Education as the kick-off and commitment to the whole-of-state strategy development
Liberal Agreed, but with the broad objective of discussing skills development options for the sector
Labor   Will commit
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

  Ensure that the delivery and oversight of the strategy fit within the whole-of-government approach.
Liberal Can be discussed at round table
Labor   No response received
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

POLICY PRIORITY 5: PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATIONS

 

Tourism is an extremely important driver of our state’s economy, driving benefit that flows to regional communities and has a positive impact on other industries such as agriculture, food and wine, retail, education, real estate and transport. The need for all tourism stakeholders in our state to work more collaboratively is fundamental to our recovery and future prosperity.

  Work collaboratively with industry to commit to a cross-government Tourism Industry Recovery Plan
Liberal SATC, as the lead agency, continue to work across government around tourism recovery
Labor   Will commit
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

 

  Ensure the Chief Executive of the identified Departments has a KPI committing them to deliver on actions, project or partnerships which contribute positively to South Australia’s Visitor Economy
Liberal The SATC CE currently has the appropriate KPIs
Labor   No response received
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Establish an annual agreement between the Premier, Minister for Tourism and TiCSA as the peak tourism industry body to determine key actions, responsibilities, partnerships and collaboration activities
Liberal TiCSA should continue to work with the SATC as the agency representing the Minister for Tourism and the Government.
Labor   Will commit
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

  Have the Minister for Tourism host roundtables with industry representatives, in partnership with TiCSA, twice a year
Liberal Ongoing
Labor   Will commit
Greens Support in principle
SA Best Support in principle
Defend Local Business Support in principle

 

 

PARTY AND CANDIDATE RESPONSES

Click the buttons below to read each party’s responses to our asks, as per our Tourism Industry Recovery Agenda.

LIBERAL PARTY SA RESPONSE
SA LABOR PARTY RESPONSE
THE GREENS SA RESPONSE
SA-BEST RESPONSE
DEFEND LOCAL BUSINESS RESPONSE