A NEW NSW GOVERNMENT-

TICNSWs focus turns to converting commitments into real actions….

TICNSW Chairman Ken Corbett with Premier Barry O’Farrell

For TICNSW, with a new NSW Government now in place, the focus turns to converting the commitments made by the coalition in their Tourism Policy, launched in February 2011, into actions.

As we reported at the time, a NSW Liberals & Nationals Government committed to:

• Create Destination NSW, bringing together the marketing functions of Tourism NSW and Events NSW into the one entity;
• Boost tourism funding for Destination NSW by $40 million;
• Plus a one-off additional funding for Regional NSW of $5 million;
• Establish a Visitor Economy Taskforce to deliver a strategy with industry, aimed to double overnight visitor expenditure in NSW by 2020.

 We very much supported those announcements as they directly responded to the key actions TICNSW were calling for in our “Going for Growth” tourism policy document, released in September last year.

To view the “Going for Growth” tourism policy click here

We particularly highlighted the need for:

• The development of a focused industry driven plan for tourism in NSW that aims to unlock the potential tourism growth for NSW and sets an inspirational visitor growth target out to 2020 that government and industry can work towards together.
• An integrated, whole of government approach to planning, development and marketing of tourism in NSW, and
• Increased funding to develop and promote tourism in NSW, particularly regional tourism.

 So the next step for TICNSW, once the new Tourism Minister is announced (expected to be early next week), will be to seek a meeting to discuss just how these commitments will be actioned (despite a large “black hole” in the budget!!). We will keep you informed of progress!!

 INTERNATIONAL VISITORS SURVEY (IVS)

The full range of International visitor data for Australia for 2010 is now available and provides some interesting insights into the change in the flow of visitors to Sydney.

It is also worth looking at how Sydney’s markets share against our key competitors Victoria and Queensland has changed.

In looking at these figures we have chosen to focus on Sydney and not NSW. In contrast to Victoria, NSW is fortunate to have a serious flow of business that comes into the State from over our Northern border at Coolangatta/Tweed Heads. Therefore, a simple NSW verses Victoria comparison doesn’t give an accurate understanding for the large sector of business dealing in Sydney and its regional surrounds with inbound visitors.

For those who wish to look at the NSW figures, these are available on the Tourism NSW corporate website http://corporate.tourism.nsw.gov.au/

Also, it is worth noting that the IVS figures do exclude children under 15 years of age and of course covers those who spent at least one night in Sydney, excluding the transit visitors. And the figures below cover all our visitors not simply those who declare their visit for Holiday purposes. Visiting Friends & Relatives, Business travellers and Students (for less than a year) are all good “tourists’ who spend dollars in our economy.

So just what is happening with international tourism to Sydney??

In 2010 Sydney received 2,607,000 international visitors.

Number one was New Zealand (replacing previous long term number 1, UK) with 341,000; UK was number 2 with 330,600 and regular number 3, USA at 282,000. Very close behind and on current trends likely to be number 3 in 2011 is China with 274,000. Making up the top six and the only markets with more than 100,000 was Korea at 5 with 159,000 and Japan in six at 147,000.

China’s continued rise is a further sign that they are going to be a powerhouse in arrivals, with airline capacity between Sydney and a number of Chinese cities growing to help this occur. The Tourism Council encourages members to consider if they are focusing on having products that will appeal to Chinese travelers in Sydney and surrounding regions, working to ensure that we host our Chinese visitors in a way that ensures positive feedback as a destination by the Chinese when returning to their home locations.

In looking at the key origin markets we also learn from IVS how many internationals visit Sydney compared to all Australian arrivals. These figures are not pure market share, as overnights can occur in many locations, and the percentages into all States and Territories add up to or than 100%.

However, Korea is the clear number one with an astounding 80% of Koreans to Australia visiting Sydney. Our next highest “share” is USA and China at 64% each.

The tables below list first the number of IVS arrivals (no visitors under 15 included) by total and the top six markets for Sydney, as well as Queensland and Victoria. The second table shows the Sydney market share.

As can be seen, Sydney is dominant in nearly all numbers, particularly over Victoria. Queensland narrowly leads Sydney in Japanese and New Zealanders in both Tables. However no one destination in Queensland can claim these numbers as they are spread across their strong regional destinations of Gold Coast, Cairns, Whitsundays and Brisbane.

Victoria is a threat for the growing China market and all three East Coast States have to keep chasing the important New Zealand market, our only real short haul market.

Origin country – IVS	Sydney 2010	Queensland 2010	Victoria 2010
New Zealand	340,702	404,000	246,500
United Kingdom	330,647	238,000	196,800
USA includes Hawaii	281,823	148,000	125,600
China	273,814	188,000	206,000
Korea	159,047	75,000	31,400
Japan	147,011	154,000	37,900
All arrivals	2,606,839	2,048,000	1,649,300

 

2010 IVS	% Origin into Sydney	% Origin in Qld	% Origin in Victoria
Korea	80%	38%	16%
USA includes Hawaii	64%	34%	29%
China	63%	44%	48%
United Kingdom	54%	39%	32%
Japan	40%	42%	10%
New Zealand	32%	38%	23%

 

 UPDATE ON THE 2011 NSW TOURISM AWARDS                                                                             

TICNSW has appointed Fourth Wall Events, to work with us to produce the 2011 NSW Awards program.

This is a significant move for the Awards and was undertaken by Tender. Pamela Wheat who has worked directly with TICNSW in the past two years on the event is now associated with the Fourth Wall team and will continue to play a key role.

Shan Lawson who has been the Award coordinator for the past 6 years has continued to work for TIC over the interim period since the successful conclusion of the 2010 Awards. Shan has by mutual agreement agreed to complete her Award activities at the end of April and is working closely with Fourth Wall Events during this time to ensure continuity and a full handover.

The Fourth Wall Event company key contact for the 2011 NSW Tourism Awards will be Katrina King and she will undertake the bulk of the activities previously undertaken by Shan Lawson.

The Council wishes to sincerely thank Shan for her dedication and help in the development of the State Awards program over the years.

On another staffing change, TICNSW has also employed Jenna Veness in a full time capacity to enhance our membership and industry activities. Jenna will work closely with Fourth Wall Events and with all the State and Regional Award activity, on TIC’s behalf.