Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport, Roads and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I am very partial to the coal industry. It is a bit like the tourism industry—good for jobs and exports for Australia. The Tourism Australia campaign seeks to attract people who are avid users of technology, shun traditional media outlets, listen and value their peers’ travel experiences, want their travel experience to enhance them as a person and, perhaps most importantly, are high-yield tourists. They are commonly known in marketing as ‘experience seekers’. The campaign approach based on this model of defining people by their motivation to travel works to a point, as the $6 million spent by Tourism Australia on tourism research and polling tells us. In some markets, the tag line built on the existing goodwill towards Australia and cut through in a fiercely competitive global community. Yet it failed to cut through and inspire experience seekers in some critical markets, including that of Japan, which due to cultural differences meant the tag line simply did not translate.

There were further problems in other key markets, and I do not wish to dwell on them today as that is not my purpose in speaking to the bill. I simply note that the opposition, federal Labor, has given bipartisan support to the campaign as it supports a viable and vital tourism industry, and a global campaign was desperately needed. It is about actually getting that campaign right rather than wasting money. I raise this point because it highlights a simple fact: while there is immense credit in the approach of segmenting a campaign according to lifestyle habits and motivation rather than just country of origin, any single theme campaign will not enable the industry to realise its full potential. Cultural differences that can be defined by our global origin have a significant impact on lifestyle choices. This factor that influences our purchasing decisions should not be overlooked as merely an outdated marketing model, particularly when $180 million of taxpayer funded money is put on the table. Taxpayers actually expect value in terms of the return on that investment to try and guarantee the future of the tourism industry.

As the shadow minister for tourism, I therefore say on behalf of the opposition that I am concerned by the fact that $180 million was spent on an international campaign that relied perhaps too much on a single theme. This is a risky approach. Tourism Australia knew before the campaign was launched that there were translation problems in Japan as well as cultural differences of major significance in other key markets. From the opposition’s point of view this does not suggest that the campaign should be scrapped and that Tourism Australia should go back to the drawing board and develop a new Brand Australia campaign. We are not suggesting that as it would be a step back for tourism in Australia and we need to move forward. There are faults with the campaign. The industry and Tourism Australia accept that it is not perfect, and we have to look forward in trying to actually improve the campaign and learn from some of our past mistakes. It is about modifying the campaign as necessary and aiming towards building a brand that realises the enormous potential that is actually out there.

The year 2005 was anything but a great year for tourism, and 2006 mercifully saw the industry gain back some ground, thanks largely to the Ashes cricket tour that attracted British tourists here in droves, even if it was to watch their team lose to the Aussies. The fact is that there was an increase of 5.8 per cent in British tourists; however, otherwise it was a flat period for tourism, with overall tourism numbers increasing by only 0.6 per cent. Where would we have been without the Ashes tour in terms of our performance over the last 12 months?

Although the downward trend in tourist numbers from Japan continued, thankfully it has somewhat abated. The figures were interpreted by the government as good news as tourist spending was up but, as the head of Tourism Council Australia commented, while the aim of attracting higher spending, longer staying visitors was paying off, the lack of growth in market share was a huge concern to Australia. I argue that it is a real concern. As I outlined earlier today, global tourism is booming and the international industry has never been stronger. Why aren’t we as a nation grasping our share of that growth? I say that because, despite this growth, we have not actually increased our market share. New and highly lucrative markets are emerging and they are there for the taking.

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