Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Chandler for her question, and I congratulate her on her first question. All senators, I'm sure, are looking forward to an outstanding first speech later this afternoon. We wish her well for that. I thank her for her first question, particularly as it focuses on the tourism sector—an industry so important to Senator Chandler's home state of Tasmania, as it is right across Australia.

Last Wednesday the National Visitor Survey was released. It showed that Australians took some 109 million overnight trips and spent a record $75 billion over the last year, up some 14 per cent on the previous year. Australians are, in increasing numbers, choosing to holiday at home. The number of overnight trips to the state of Tasmania, I'm pleased to say, increased by some 12 per cent over that time horizon as well, as part of the booming tourism industry we're seeing in Tasmania.

Importantly, international tourism is also growing strongly, with international spending hitting some $44.3 billion. These are tourists, domestic and international, coming and spending up in accommodation providers, in restaurants and in attractions right across our regional towns and cities, and, in doing so, creating and underpinning vast amounts of employment. Indeed, around one in 13 Australian jobs relates to our tourism industry. That's testimony to the fact that so many hardworking tourism operators show initiative, drive and entrepreneurship across regional Australia.

I'm delighted to say that these figures show that we have now met and surpassed the Tourism 2020 target that our government has been striving towards. We've done so ahead of time. I acknowledge the hard work and effort of the tourism industry right around Australia and the state, territory and regional tourism partners who work collaboratively with Tourism Australia, and I thank all of those partners for their efforts in getting us to the point where our tourism industry is supporting and underpinning so many jobs and so many small businesses right around Australia.