Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Tourism has provided the following response to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The Department has not conducted research on impacts of the carbon tax. The Department of Treasury is responsible for modelling impacts of the carbon price and any questions should be directed to Treasury.

(2) The Department has not undertaken any modelling in this respect. Also, refer to the response to Question 3.

(3) It is the Department's view that any assessments relating to the impact of the Carbon Tax should be undertaken by Treasury or the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

(4) The Minister was not aware of the Twitter comment. Responses to Questions 7-9 below outline initiatives underway through Tourism 2020 and the T-QUAL Strategic Tourism Investment Grants program to assist tourism businesses to become 'China Ready'.

(5) The Department does not collect statistics on the Chinese language ability of the tourism workforce.

(6) Chinese language ability is an important consideration for tourism businesses with front-line staff that connect with Chinese tourists.

(7) As part of Tourism 2020, the National Tourism Alliance has been contracted to develop a Careers Promotional Campaign to provide tourism and hospitality businesses with a promotional toolkit to enhance their ability to market the various career pathways that the industry has to offer. One of the target markets of the Campaign to entice people from a non-English speaking background (including people fluent in Chinese) into a tourism and hospitality related career.

As part of Tourism 2020's Sydney Tourism Employment Plan, strategies will be developed to address labour and skills pressures being faced by the tourism and hospitality industry, including strategies to better utilise the language skills of international students in tourism and hospitality occupations. Strategies developed under the Sydney Tourism Employment Plan will be able to assist tourism business in other regions by providing options to employ workers with foreign language skills.

Also, refer to the response to Question 8.

(8) (a) The Welcoming Chinese Visitors project has been developed through the provision of $600,000 under the T-QUAL Strategic Tourism Investment Grants program. The successful grant recipient (a consortium led by Avana Learning Pty Ltd) was announced by the Minister for Tourism on 13 June 2012. Collaborating with Avana on this program are China Ready & Accredited, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) and TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute.

(b) Following extensive research to develop a course curriculum for the 'China-ready' project, the consortium launched the formal training modules on 12 December 2012 at the China Tourism Industry Forum, The training modules will be rolled out throughout 2013 via a dedicated website at: www.welcomingchinesevisitors.com.

(c) Through this project and before the completion of the funding period on 30 June 2013, the Department aims to achieve;

(9) As per the response to Question 7, one of the goals of Tourism 2020's Careers Promotional Campaign is to entice people from a non-English speaking background (including people fluent in Chinese) into a tourism and hospitality related career to help drive China-readiness policy.

As part of Tourism 2020's Sydney Tourism Employment Plan, strategies will be developed to address labour and skills pressures being faced by the tourism and hospitality industry, including strategies to better utilise the language skills of international students, including Chinese, in tourism and hospitality occupations. Strategies developed under the Sydney Tourism Employment Plan will be able to assist tourism business in other regions by providing options to employ workers with foreign language skills.

(10) (a) No.

(b) No.

(c) The Australian Government provided $1 million to ATDW to translate approximately 26,000 tourism product records on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse database. ATDW contracted SDL, a reputable worldwide translation company that won the project through a competitive tendering process. SDL were well briefed by ATDW and Tourism Australia to ensure that all translations were carried out to excellent standards. SDL have rigorous internal processes including review by editors and linguists. Tourism Australia's China office also reviewed samples of the translations to ensure the translations are accurate.

All accommodation data has already been translated and is currently searchable on Australia.com. The translated content will also be available for publication by all 150 distributors of ATDW product information, including state and regional tourism organisations and large and niche commercial players such as AAA Tourism, Flight Centre, Escape Travel and Yahoo7.

(11) The Department participates in the Interdepartmental Forum on International Education (led by Australian Education International). Through the Interdepartmental Forum, the Government has undertaken a substantive program of reform over the past three years to support a sustainable, high quality international education sector. These reforms include the establishment of national regulators, the introduction of the International Students Strategy for Australia and the Review of the Student Visa Program 2011 (Knight Review). These reforms among others allow for the streamlining of visa processing for international student visas and help increase the competitiveness of Australia as an international education destination.

Although international student enrolments have fallen from a historic peak in 2009, enrolments in 2011 were still the third highest on record, after 2009 and 2010. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship's (DIAC) June Quarter 2012 student visa data provided a basis for optimism that offshore interest in studying in Australia is up, with 15.1 per cent growth in higher education visas granted to offshore applicants, compared to the June Quarter 2011.

(12) Australia is not 'losing' $8.7 billion in the tourism sector. While the GFC, natural disasters and the high Australian dollar have impacted on visitor numbers to Australia, Australia's tourism industry is proving resilient.

Tourism Research Australia's State of the Industry 2012 report shows there was an eight per cent increase to total visitor expenditure to $95 billion in 2011-12. This is the strongest growth in total visitor expenditure since 2000-01 and has been primarily driven by a strong domestic tourism industry. Domestic tourism expenditure increased by nearly 11 per cent to over $68 billion. This is the strongest growth recorded for domestic tourism expenditure since the National Visitor Survey commenced in 1998.

As part of Tourism 2020, the Government is working with state and territory governments and industry to create a policy framework that will support industry growth and provide industry with the tools to compete more effectively in the global economy. Further information on the activities being undertaken as part of Tourism 2020 can be found at www.tourism.gov.au.

Funds allocated to marketing have increased over 2011-12 levels. Tourism Australia (TA) received $8.5 million as part of the Asia Marketing Fund, and additional funds for China projects including Chinese translation of the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse and China based TA website.

(13) According to the latest issue of World Tourism Barometer published by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Australia was in 10th place in relation to international tourism expenditure in 2011, representing 2.6 per cent of total global spending. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), there were approximately 7.8 million short-term Australian resident overseas departures in 2011.

ABS does not release data on visitor nights of Australian residents travelling overseas but it does release data on intended length of stay by Australian residents. According to TRA's National Visitor Survey (NVS), Australian residents (aged 15 years or more) spent 143 million nights abroad in 2011.

(14) TRA's NVS reports that Australians spent AU$41.5 billion overseas in 2011. According to TRA's International Visitor Survey (IVS), international visitors spent $26.4 billion on their trips to Australia in 2011. From 2005 to 2011, Australian resident expenditure on overseas trips recorded an average annual growth of 11.6 per cent compared to the average growth in international visitor spend in Australia of 3.4 per cent over the same period.

(15) The Department has not done any modelling to estimate the impact.

(16) The small reduction in staff numbers within the Division announced at the end of 2011, did not have a material impact on the capacity of the Division to manage ongoing projects and effectively implement the Government's policies and programs for the Australian tourism industry. The Division is carefully monitoring its ongoing work program and all activities currently undertaken to ensure that available resources are effectively allocated to the Government's key priorities. Additional resources have been provided to the Division from 2012-13 to deliver the Government's new Tourism Industry Regional Development Fund (TIRF) grants program. There is also additional research funding for Tourism Research Australia in 2012-13 through the Asia Marketing Fund announced by the Government in the 2012-13 Budget. Overall staff levels for Tourism Research Australia have been maintained and have not been affected by the Departmental staff cuts.

(17) Funding of $40 million was allocated for T-QUAL funding over four years from 1 July 2011 until 30 June 2015.

The current Budget allocation for the T-QUAL Grants program provides for:

The Government has also provided $48.5 million over four years from 2012-13 to establish the Tourism Industry Regional Development Fund (TIRF) - which aims to increase the quality and range of visitor experiences in regional Australia through tourism product investment. The first round of TIRF Grants opened for applications on 23 October 2012 and closed on 14 December 2012. Successful applicants are expected to be announced in March 2013.

(18) Under current arrangements, individual applications for T-QUAL Grants - Tourism Quality Projects are assessed on merit under assessment criteria set out in the Program Guidelines. No proportion of the budget has been set aside in advance to fund projects relating to accreditation.

(19) To clarify, T-QUAL Accreditation has not replaced AAA Tourism's Star rating scheme. T-QUAL Accreditation provides an umbrella framework under which existing Quality Assurance Schemes (QAS), which include Accreditation Programs (AP) and Large Tourism Organisations (LTO), can apply to co-brand with a common national brand (the T-QUAL Tick) and standard oriented to building consumer purchasing preference and corresponding market benefit for accredited participants. AAA Tourism is one of 13 QAS'sare endorsed under T-QUAL Accreditation as at 4 January 2013.

(a) Tourism Australia undertook quantitative research distributed through a national online survey. The survey was completed by 1,522 respondents that had travelled domestically in the last six months. This research suggests that the 2011/​2012 consumer marketing campaign for T-QUAL Accreditation was successful with total consumer awareness of the marketing activity reaching 15 per cent (three times the campaign target of 5 per cent).

(b) Consumer marketing for T-QUAL Accreditation was launched in December 2011. Since then, the only consumer testing that has been conducted is that which is referred to in the response to (a) above. This research suggests that 15 per cent of consumers that had travelled between January and June 2012 had an awareness of the marketing activity for T-QUAL Accreditation.

(c) To date, consumer marketing activity has focused on the domestic market. In addition, Tourism Australia has recently implemented a comprehensive international awareness campaign through communications distributed to international trade partners through its international offices and industry events.

(d) T-QUAL Accreditation operates as an umbrella framework working with existing Quality Assurance Schemes (QAS) making it different to other international programs. T-QUAL Accreditation endorses existing QAS who meet the T-QUAL criteria, the QAS then accredit individual operators. Individual operators cannot become T-QUAL Accredited directly, but are eligible to use the T-QUAL Tick through their accreditation with a T-QUAL endorsed QAS. Most international schemes accredit operators directly.

(e) The UNWTO has confirmed that it does not have a position or information regarding mystery shoppers.

(f) Applications for T-QUAL Accreditation are assessed by independent assessors who use a standard assessment template, which includes each criterion. This ensures that each application is assessed against the full criteria. To become T-QUAL Accredited the QAS must demonstrate that they have a robust assessment process in place.

(g) Tourism Research Australia is working with a range of industry stakeholders including T-QUAL Accredited QAS to encourage participation in the Small Scale Accommodation Survey. Making participation in the survey a requirement for T-QUAL Accreditation would not necessarily ensure operator participation in the survey and may be beyond the remit of the QAS.

(h) As part of the T-QUAL Tick Welcome Packs, a range of collateral is provided to operators including a strut card and a brochure explaining about the T-QUAL Tick. In order to become T-QUAL Accredited QAS and their operators must provide a feedback mechanism for consumers.

As part of T-QUAL Accreditation, the Customer Feedback Management System (CFMS) has been developed, providing a mechanism for consumers to escalate feedback where the response from the operator has not been satisfactory. Where the operator is T-QUAL endorsed, the feedback will be forwarded to the QAS in the first instance for action. Where the feedback is not resolved, or it is beyond the remit of the QAS, it can be forwarded to the relevant Office of Fair Trading for investigation. The feedback form is hosted on the Department's website.

(i) The T-QUAL Accreditation criteria stipulates that programs applying for T-QUAL accreditation must require all tourism operators they accredit, rate or certify to comply with applicable legal and regulatory obligations, including compliance with all Trade Practices Act, consumer affairs and Occupation Health and Safety obligations. This includes the Disability (Access to Premises-Buildings) Standards 2010, and the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 where applicable.

(j) An operator will lose their T-QUAL status when they are no longer accredited with a T-QUAL endorsed accreditation program. The Department does not collect statistics on this.

(20) There are 21 criteria for T-QUAL Accreditation. These are outlined in the Guidelines for Applicants available from the Department's website at: http://www.ret.gov.au/​tourism/​Documents/​Tourism%20Policiy/​national-tourism-accreditation-framework/​Guidelines-for-applicants-LTO-and-AP.pdf.

(21) The Department participated in Interdepartmental Committees relating to the implementation of the Government's problem gambling reforms. Determining the impacts of mandatory pre-commitment on clubs, players and more broadly, is the subject of the proposed trial of mandatory pre-commitment. The results of which will be evaluated by the productivity commission. The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs is working closely with government to implement the reforms which form part of the National Gambling Reform Act 2012. Industry stakeholders including clubs and pubs will have an opportunity to inform the development of regulations which give effect to the reforms through consultations in early 2013. This will ensure that new requirements are workable and take account of particular industry issues.

(22) (a) On 15 July 2012, the Prime Minister announced that the Australian Government was expanding the number of guaranteed berths for the biggest visiting cruise vessels. This will ensure three visits this coming cruise season and another three the next. The Government is also considering options to meet the long-term needs of the cruise industry.

(b) See response to Question 22a.

(c) Consistent with the Prime Minister's announcement, three cruise ship visits will be accommodated at Garden Island in the 2012-13 peak cruise season and a further three visits the following season. The first of the three 2012-13 visits took place on 21 November 2012 (Celebrity Millennium). Further visits are planned on 27 February 2013 (Balmoral - a ship which can proceed under the Harbour Bridge) and 28 February 2013 (Costa Delicioza). Available visit dates for the 2013-14 cruise season have yet to be agreed.

(d) The Department of Defence currently levies berthing charges on cruise ships accessing Garden Island at rates which reflect those charged by the Sydney Ports Corporation at the commercial Overseas Passenger Terminal berth at Circular Quay, Sydney. For each cruise ship visit, these charges are contained in a three-way Licence Agreement approved by the Department of Finance and Deregulation and executed by the Commonwealth (Defence), NSW Roads & Maritime Services (with respect to the seabed lease at Garden Island) and the Cruise Ship representative.

Most recent charges advised by the Department of Defence were as follows:

Berthage: $250.50 plus GST per hour

Water usage: $2.10 plus GST per kilolitre

Gangways: $68.50 plus GST per gangway per day

Crane hire: $682.50 plus GST per hour per crane

Hardstand area: $351.40 plus GST per day

Security: $58.87 plus GST per hour

Similar charges will apply for ships visiting on 27 and 28 February 2013. Future berthage charges remain subject to review, in light of new charging regimes being introduced by the NSW Government at the Overseas Passenger Terminal from 1 July 2013.

(e) The additional berthage announced by Prime Minister on 15 July 2012 will generate three trips to Garden Island in 2012-13 and three trips to Garden Island in 2013-14. The Department has not undertaken any economic modelling to determine the economic impact of these services.

Currently, an annual economic impact assessment of the cruise industry is conducted by Cruise Down Under. Its Economic Impact Assessment of the Cruise Shipping Industry in Australia, 2011-12 found that the cruise shipping industry resulted in $725.6 million in direct expenditure in the 2011-12 cruise season. The report details expenditure at various Australian ports but does not provide a breakdown of expenditure by itinerary. The most recent report, and previous reports, are available at: www.cruisedownunder.com/​reports.

(23) In 2011, Tourism Research Australia commissioned the Centre for Economics and Policy at the University of New South Wales to model the impact of a 20 per cent rise to the Passenger Movement Charge which was then at $47. Under this scenario a 20 per cent increase equated to a rise of $9.40, or a total Passenger Movement Charge of $56.40.

The Centre for Economics and Policy modelling found that increasing the Passenger Movement Charge to $56.40 would have a net negative impact on the tourism industry of $7 million a year, but a net positive economy wide impact of around $40 million a year.

The Department has not conducted any further analysis following the increase in the Passenger Movement Charge from $47 to $55 on 1 July 2012.

(24) The National Online Strategy for Tourism (NOST) is driven by the Digital Distribution Working Group which is chaired by Destination NSW. The key objective of the NOST moving forward is to deliver global competitive advantage to the Australian tourism industry, through the areas of research and insights; partnerships and collaboration; industry and trade communication and education; content and consumer engagement; and distribution.

(25) The Going Global Action Plan is being promoted to the tourism industry through the Digital Distribution Working Group website; distributed and referenced in tourism-related consultations; and referenced in various industry materials (including workshop paper for 2012 Tourism Directions Conference).

As part of the Going Global Action Plan, the Tourism e-kit is promoted through the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse website; state tourism organisation websites; referenced in various industry materials; and distributed and referenced in tourism-related consultations.

Under Tourism 2020, The Australian Tourism Data Warehouse has been contracted to undertake the Tourism e-kit Development Project, which includes revisions to existing tutorials and the development of new tutorials to ensure that the industry is kept up to date with the latest in digital distribution, new technologies and consumer usage. The Project will also aim to increase uptake of the e-kit by industry through the delivery of a Train the Trainer Program, which will create an accredited group of trainers to teach specific e-kit tutorials to industry on a one-on-one and group workshop basis. The Train the Trainer Program is expected to commence in mid-2013.

(26) The Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) was created in 2001 as a joint initiative of the government tourism organisations from all Australian states and territories and Tourism Australia to further secure Australia's position in the global tourism marketplace and increase the number and expenditure of visitors to Australia. Total funding allocated to ATDW from 2001 to 2012 was $26.137 million – comprising $21.649 million provided by the states and territories and $4.488 million of Federal funding.

(27) The Department is aware of digital programs being run by some state tourism organisations. The Department does not monitor these programs, nor does it operate any of its own programs that would need to be tailored.

(28) The Department is aware that the substantial impact of Cyclone Yasi on North Queensland continues to be felt by the tourism industry in the region. The Queensland Government advised that for Mission Beach, the Cassowary Coast Regional Council has received assistance to rebuild the Clump Point and Dunk Island jetties as soon as possible with $5.5 million from Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements funding allocated for these works. The tender process for the design and construction of the new jetties is well advanced with Cassowary Coast Regional Council approving the award of the contract to CivilPlus Constructions. All works are scheduled to be completed by June 2013.

(29) Aviation activity in Australia is increasing.

The most recently available figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics demonstrate that domestic aviation capacity also continues to increase. There were 54.98 million passengers carried on Australian domestic airlines in 2011-12 – a record high. The number of available seats rose by 0.7 per cent to 71.08 million.

In relation to international aviation the most recently available data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics shows that in 2011-12, 56 airlines operated international scheduled flights to and from Australia. The number of airline seats available to travel to and from Australia increased by 3.6 per cent to a record high of 38.265 million seats. The number of international passengers travelling to and from Australia has increased from 16 million in 2002-03 to 29 million in 2011-12.

Regarding the National Visitor Survey (NVS) methodology, the NVS has been conducted in its current form since 1998 and collects information on the domestic overnight, domestic day and outbound travel of Australians aged 15 years or more. The annual sample is 120,000, increased by 50 per cent in 2005 from 80,000, with respondents interviewed in their homes by landline about their recent travel using Random Digit Dialling and a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system. Australia's NVS is an international leader in the collection of domestic travel expenditure and behaviour.

NVS travel definitions are based on those recommended by the UNWTO. As such, interviews are conducted with people who have travelled for a number of purposes including holiday, visiting friends and relatives and business. Overall, the survey contains around 70 questions covering areas such as destination(s) visited, purpose of travel, transport used, accommodation used, length of stay, activities undertaken and expenditure on trip.

The broad coverage of the NVS ensures that it currently provides a robust measure of the overall health of domestic tourism and enables the level of performance for various segments within the domestic tourism industry to be compared. As such it is providing a good picture of the health of non-mining related tourism.

To further enhance the NVS, it will be transitioned to a combination of landline and mobile phone interviewing from 2014. With the number of "mobile only" households increasing substantially in recent years, this transition will ensure that collection methods are keeping pace with technological advances and the survey continues to provide a good picture of the health of non-mining related tourism.

Notably, the new collection methodology will provide better coverage of population groups often away from home and/​or more likely to be "mobile only" (for example, frequent business travellers, fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out workers and grey nomads). As such, from 2014, it is likely that the transition will not only enhance NVS measurement of non-mining related tourism but mining related travel as well.

(30) No. However, TRA was responsible for managing this project on behalf of states and territories and worked closely with the University of New South Wales.

(31) No.

(32) The selection of projects that TRA undertakes within its discretionary research budget is guided by the Tourism Research Advisory Board (TRAB) in line with the National Tourism Research Agenda (the Agenda). On behalf of the TRAB, TRA is currently updating the Agenda and this has involved wide consultation with industry and government. Issues relating to the Australian Federal Police and Border and Protection Services have not been raised as priorities in the consultation process.

(33) While TRA is a branch of the Department, it operates in accordance with the code of 'professional independence' as outlined on the TRA website. TRA's discretionary research program is approved by the Tourism Research Advisory Board.

TRA continues to provide independent statistics, research and analysis to support industry development, policy development and marketing for the Australian tourism industry.

Since becoming a branch of the Department, TRA has continued with all of the research projects and activities that were undertaken whilst it was located within Tourism Australia. In addition to this workload, TRA has undertaken a number of other research projects to support policy and industry development such as the "State of the Industry Report", "Investment Monitor" and "Small Scale Accommodation Survey".

Research undertaken by TRA may be categorised into three areas: current market dynamics, emerging trends and productive capacity (with broad dissemination of that research an overarching goal). Current market dynamics includes the annual State of the Industry report, TRA's benchmark surveys – the National Visitor Survey and International Visitor Survey, the Destination Visitor Survey program, Small-Scale Tourism Accommodation survey, regional expenditure and tourism profiles, and tourism demand segment research. Emerging trends includes tourism forecasts (arrivals and departures). Productive capacity includes benchmarking the tourism industry's [economic] performance via state tourism satellite accounts, tourism business performance and the estimates of the contribution of tourism to the economy at the national and regional levels as well as monitoring investment in the Australian tourism industry.

(34) Tourism Australia is not aware of any negative perceptions of Brand Australia on social media and all indications are that Brand Australia is portrayed positively in social media.

Tourism Australia is very active in the social media space and generates extensive global interest in Australia as a travel destination. Tourism Australia maintains the largest destination Facebook page worldwide, with over 4 million fans globally.

On 10 October 2012, Austrade issued a media release stating that the Brand Australia country reputation ranked second on the Reputation Institute's CountryRep Trak survey. According to the study, Brand Australia is in excellent standing. The survey measured reputation based on economic, social and aesthetic measures.

It is impossible to monitor and prevent negative comments posted on every blog or social networking site worldwide, however Tourism Australia is very proactive in hosting several social media sites that portray the positive aspects of Australia. Tourism Australia has a dedicated team regularly removing spam and other offensive comments from the site. Tourism Australia deletes posts that are offensive, discriminatory or racist.

(35) Tourism Australia maintains three full time social media positions.

(36) (a) The $48.5 million Tourism Industry Regional Development Fund (TIRF) is comprised of $42.915 million in Administered funds and $5.585 million in Departmental funds, distributed across a four year period. TIRF Administered funds will be allocated across two separate programs - the TIRF Grants Program (which supports tourism industry projects in regional Australia through grants of up to $250,000), and a labour and skills initiative, administrative details of which are still being finalised. Departmental resourcing provides for the implementation, staffing and management of the Fund.

(b) Tourism Australia is represented on the TIRF Industry Advisory Panel established to provide industry experience and knowledge during the development of the TIRF Grants Program and Tourism Australia personnel will be directly involved in the assessment of TIRF applications. Tourism Australia has also been allocated Administered funding for the 'Great Australia Tourism Makeover', a marketing initiative lin