Thursday 1 November 2007

FLIGHTS INTO TASMANIA REACH NEW HEIGHTS
The Minister for Tourism, Arts and the Environment, Paula Wriedt, today said the State Government’s partnerships with the airports and airlines had seen dramatically improved visitor access to Tasmania.

“As an island holiday destination, there is probably nothing more important to the ongoing growth and sustainability of our tourism industry than the ability to be able to get visitors here,” Ms Wriedt said.

“Even after the collapse of Ansett in September 2001, we were able to get the volume of lost seats back on track through Qantas within a matter of weeks.

“We have since see the introduction of low cost fares to Tasmania from Virgin and Jetstar as well as the recently announced arrival of Tiger Airways later this month.

“There has been a 48 per cent increase in the volume of seats to and from Tasmania over the past decade, which means more flights at the right time and the right price.

“There are now over 3.5 million seats in and out of Tasmania annually, a huge leap from the 2.4 million available in 1998.

“More important is the fact that these seats are filled at a greater rate than 1998 with a corresponding 10 percent increase in the average airline load factor from 68 per cent to 78 percent.

“As more choices become available, more people are taking up the opportunity to visit Tasmania.

“We recently saw Launceston pass the landmark of its one millionth passenger for the year, a figure set to soar when Tiger enters the market.”

Ms Wriedt said the changes occurring in the domestic and international tourism market today mean that Tasmania must continue to market itself creatively and innovatively, as a holiday destination.

“We need to ensure that the high levels of appeal generated by various promotions, and the glowing word of mouth endorsements from past visitors, are converted into actual travel,” Ms Wriedt said.

“Early this year, for the first time in 15 years, Tourism Tasmania began aggressively marketing the state through a new interstate television campaign on free to air and pay TV.

“This has been complemented with outdoor billboards, cleverly worded print advertisements and a large number of feature articles.

“The State Government’s $16 million Tourism Promotion Plan, continues to support our marketing of Tasmania as a destination, while also encouraging new cooperative marketing programs with local and regional tourism organisations.

“We will continue to work hard to appeal to and entice visitors, because we know that if the demand is there, then the airlines will continue to support our island state.

“We have seen dramatically improved visitor access to Tasmania, and this demonstrates the importance of the State Government’s partnerships with our airports and the major airlines.”

For further information contact Tourism Tasmania's Communications Unit

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