Press Release

Tuesday 19 June 2007

VISITORS ARE STAYING LONGER AND SPENDING MORE
Visitors are staying longer in Tasmania, despite the demands of work, housing, petrol prices and the lure of competing products such as international holidays and luxury household items.

Opening the annual Tasmanian Tourism Conference in Launceston today, the Treasurer, Michael Aird, told 200 tourism operators that total visitor nights had increased six per cent in the 12 months to March 2007 compared to the previous 12 months.

“Given that visitors increased one per cent over the same period, a six per cent rise in nights indicates visitors are staying significantly longer,” Mr Aird said.

“Average length of stay is now 8.7 nights,” said Mr Aird. “This is fantastic news and a credit to the Tasmanian tourism industry.”

Mr Aird was announcing the results of the Tasmanian Visitor Survey for March 2007.

“These figures demonstrate that Government initiatives such as the $16 million Tourism Promotion Plan and Tourism Tasmania’s $3 million “Island of Inspiration” marketing campaign are getting the message out that Tasmania is worth more than a short break,” he said.

“We’ve known for some time that Australians’ preference for overseas holidays has been eating into the time they are willing to spend on domestic travel. Yet clearly, the experiences offered by the Tasmanian tourism industry are appealing enough to compete against this mind-set.”

Mr Aird said a big rise in visitor expenditure of 13 per cent to $1.301 billion showed that Tasmania was increasingly attractive to high-spending travellers.

“The job now is to get more of those visitors out into our regions, and the Tasmanian Tourism Conference is a perfect venue for sharing ideas about how this can be done,” he said.

“The calibre of speakers at this year’s conference is a testament to Tasmania’s significance as a destination.”

Jetstar CEO Alan Joyce chose today’s event to announce a cooperative marketing campaign with Tourism Tasmania offering great low fares from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to Hobart and Launceston.

“Jetstar’s offer is made in television advertisements coinciding with the next phase of Tourism Tasmania’s own television advertising and using the “Island of Inspiration” branding,” said Mr Aird.

Mr Aird said this year’s conference highlighted the crucial importance of digital technology in ensuring Tasmanian tourism remains competitive.

“Tourism Tasmania CEO Felicia Mariani provided a valuable and timely insight into the way forward in the digital realm for Tourism Tasmania and the industry as a whole,” he said.

For further information contact Tourism Tasmania's Communications Unit

(03) 6230 8244
email mediainfo@tourism.tas.gov.au