Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today the December 2011 National Visitor Survey results were released. Visitor nights rose by only 1.4 per cent and spending per night increased by only 0.2 per cent over 2010, indicating shorter trips and reflecting a slight decline in holiday travel. As the Tourism and Transport Forum CEO, John Lee, rightly indicated today, the survey shows the current preference of Australians for overseas holidays.

The shadow Treasurer and former minister for tourism, Joe Hockey, has referred to today's Westpac-Melbourne Institute Survey of Consumer Sentiment, which shows the fragility of the Australian economy and underscores the need for stable and transparent government. It has fallen by five per cent in the last month, with consumers concerned about rising interest rates and petrol prices as well as declining economic conditions and employment.

When people are worried about the economy, they do not take holidays and they cut back on spending at restaurants. At its peak in 2001-02, the Australian tourism industry earned a surplus of $3.6 billion. Yet, in 2009-10, Australia lost a net $5 billion to overseas tourism providers through Australians increasingly spending their holidays abroad. In 2009-10, the annual gap between the number of Australians travelling overseas and international visitors to Australia reached one million for the first time. The increasing outbound market is contributing to a widening 'tourism trade deficit'.

Unless we start holidaying at home in greater numbers, we will lose $8.7 billion each year by 2012-13. The tourism and hospitality sector is dependent on both inbound and domestic tourists for its survival. Despite the forecast growth in international arrivals, especially from China, domestic travel accounts for around 70 per cent of tourism spending and will continue to be the mainstay of the tourism industry in the decades to come.

Australians are an outgoing people, and that is why foreign tourists have the holiday of a lifetime when they come to our shores. But it is not just the friendly welcome; it is also the safety, the guaranteed quality in accommodation and adventure activity in our great tourism product and some remarkable natural landscapes that make Australian holidays so memorable.

Because of our adventurous nature, Australian tourists can be found all over the world. Yet we lose billions of dollars when we spend our holidays abroad. Australian tourists spent 132 million nights overseas last year, pumping billions of dollars into overseas economies, despite having such a good tourism product here at home. That is why we need to remind Australians to take their next holiday in Australia, to take a 'staycation'. There are thousands of great Aussie holidays to choose from—whether it is just up the coast or across the continent.

Politicians are often accused of 'talking the talk' and never 'walking the walk', so on 2 March this year, to coincide with the national tourism awards in Cairns, the coalition launched its 'Staycation' campaign, putting its own money where its mouth is. The Staycation.org.au website provides links to Tourism Australia and each state tourism portal. It also drives visitors to the 'We Love Oz' Facebook page, where a competition is being run throughout 2012 to highlight the favourite holiday experiences of Australians. Entrants to this competition go in the running to win a holiday at one of a number of tourism award nominated hotels, including Mandalay Luxury Stay, Darwin; Lasseters Hotel Casino, Alice Springs; Crown Metropol, Southbank, Victoria; Habitat Resort, Broome, Western Australia; and The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel, Hobart.

The coalition is supported in this initiative by campaign partners Qantas; Unseen Productions; Tribecount; Shangri-La Hotel, Cairns; de Groots Media; and About-Australia.com—and I particularly thank them for the generous support they have provided to support our Australian tourism industry. I also thank Tourism Australia for the access to their excellent film library. Tourism Australia and the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse are doing a tremendous job gathering quality information on Australia's great offerings for inbound and domestic tourists alike. I commend Andrew McEvoy at Tourism Australia and Liz Ward at the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse for the outstanding work they are doing in getting Australian tourism businesses online and ensuring that our tourism product can be easily researched.

What Staycation aims to do is twofold. Firstly it draws the attention of holidaymakers to excellent web portals, like about-australia.com, that capture and present available online hotel and travel information, using the web based information captured by the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse. Secondly, by offering holiday prizes as incentives, it builds on Tourism Australia's initiative to encourage Australians to join in our national marketing effort. Nothing beats word-of-mouth endorsement from people who have 'been there, done that and bought the T-shirt'. I urge members on both sides of this House to get behind this initiative and support the Australian tourism and hospitality industries.