Feature
Issue No. 45 - Feb/March 2009
Smart money’s place in the sun
South Australia’s new State Tourism Plan 2009-2014 pulls no punches in expressing its vision for the sector’s future. The refreshingly clear document warns of challenging conditions, sets tough targets to reverse declining visitation trends, and details what’s required in terms of tourism offerings.
But what’s most important about the new Plan is its eagerness to facilitate major tourism development. The SA Tourism Commission, which developed the plan, is making a clarion call for innovative developers who can spearhead signature tourism developments. Behind the scenes, SATC is going a step further to seek out tourism entrepreneurs and ‘smart money’ to resource the developments the State needs.
SATC Chief Executive, Andrew McEvoy, says the plan underlines the point Tourism Australia chief, Rick Allert made when he visited Adelaide late last year: Australia’s tourism offering needs to become more experience-driven. It needs to develop the tourism infrastructure cashed-up overseas clients expect. And tourism operations need to become high-profile >destinations in themselves.
Andrew says the new Plan will facilitate investment in one of the world’s most favourable environments for tourism development. The Plan aims to exploit existing strengths in international festivals, education and business tourism.
It calls for collaboration to break planning bottlenecks in regional SA and innovate with measures such as land banking for development alongside parkland.
And it identifies as a significant barrier to progress the lack of leadership in tourism’s private sector – there has been no strong body to advocate for the tourism sector.
Opportunities in changing trends Andrew says the global financial crisis and other trends make a tough business tougher, but those trends also present opportunities for operators who can recognise and embrace them. There is an immediate opportunity to grab a bigger share of domestic dolla...
