TVS Snapshot - CEO Commentary

For period ending 30 June 2011

The latest round of visitor survey results for Tasmania during 2010-2011 offer a few positive aspects to what mainly are a set of figures that reinforce the ongoing challenges we all face in a very competitive and dramatically changing domestic and global marketplace.

On the downside, we saw around 14,800 fewer visitors arrive in the state on regular air and sea passenger services in the 2010-11 financial year, which is a fall of 2% compared with the same period the previous year. Not only were there fewer visitors arriving on these scheduled air and sea services, but they also did not spend as much time in the state to explore more of our regions.

According to the latest Tasmanian Visitor Survey (TVS) findings, our visitors’ travel patterns were not evenly spread around the state with the Launceston, Tamar Valley and North region being the only area in positive territory with a 5% growth in total visitors during the year.

The North West and East Coast regions fared relatively well during this period with a fall of only 1% in the total number of visitors to their regions. As there were 2% fewer visitors in the state during this period, it means that in relative terms these regions actually attracted a larger share of the visitors who came here. Of course I appreciate that this is cold comfort to those in the industry who are experiencing very difficult business conditions.

Regions that fared more poorly with visitor numbers during 2010-2011 included Southern Tasmania and the Western Wilderness region, which were down 5% and 4% respectively.

In the current climate for tourism nationally, there was certainly the potential for this fall to have been even greater as I’m sure other Australian destinations have experienced.

On a more positive note, the latest figures also show that total spending by visitors to Tasmania in 2010-2011 increased by 3% to $1.56 billion. This shows that we are still progressing in the right direction when it comes to achieving the Tourism 21 ‘Industry Potential Goal’, which requires increased visitor spending.

The TT Line’s strong performance during the year is also notable. The latest figures from the TVS show that visitors arriving by sea grew by 3%, which in the context of a fall in total visitors to the state, is a great result for the staff and management of the Spirits of Tasmania.

I would also like to highlight the very positive results for Tasmania coming from the International Visitor Survey figures for the same period.

It is very reassuring to see an increase in the number of international visitors coming to Tasmania, and even more pleasing to see that this growth has come from international markets in which we have been investing a great deal of marketing effort.

For example, during the 2010-2011 financial year, we saw the number of visitors to Tasmania from New Zealand grow by 19% when the total number of NZ visitors to Australia only grew by 5%.

The number of visitors to Tasmania from the UK and USA also grew by 10% and 9% respectively. This was the complete opposite to the national scene where the total number of visitors to Australia from the UK and USA actually fell by 3% and 5% respectively.

And very importantly, the number of international visitors who came here for holiday purposes grew by 16% to 104,100 people. This represents almost 70% of all international visitors who came to our state during this period.

While I cannot claim that these positive results are due entirely to our international marketing programs and activities, I’m confident the efforts of Tourism Tasmania and our many international business and marketing partners have contributed in a big way.

However the latest snapshot of interstate, international and local travellers in Tasmania shows that while there are some positive signs for this industry, there are still many challenges that lay ahead for tourism in this state.

For example, the decline in international visitor expenditure shows the effect the strong Australian dollar and poorer exchange rate is having on our international visitors’ spending power.

And trying to change the attitude of Australians and influencing their travel behaviour will not be an easy task when their preferred choices are saving money and taking overseas holidays. It certainly is not something that Tourism Tasmania can or should even try to achieve alone.

Encouraging Australians to choose Tasmania over the myriad of other options for spending their discretionary dollar will require all of us to pull together and pitch in to boost our state’s total marketing effort. It can no longer be a free ride for those who have made the choice to own and operate a tourism business in this state.

What the overall figures clearly show though was that while we had fewer visitors, they spent more money during their visit. Maximising the yield from our visitors is something we will all need to pursue more vigorously when developing, packaging, pricing and marketing our various tourism products and services.

This does not simply mean operators raising prices. In practice it means understanding your customers, tailoring your product to match their needs and expectations, pricing accordingly to offer value, and delivering your product or service in a way that’s even better than what your customer expected.

Customer research tells us that our target markets are certainly willing to spend more on quality tourism products, experiences and services, and today use a range of online websites to very quickly rule out any overpriced and mediocre offerings.

Quality is after all what most Tasmanian goods and services are renowned for throughout the world, and it is this quality that will ultimately deliver the long-term benefits for our brand, our regions and our tourism businesses.

Tony Mayell
CEO

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