NSW Visitor Economy
on the move
Introduction
In 2011, the new Coalition Government
recognised that the State’s tourism
industry was underperforming and its
contribution to the national economy at
risk of dropping below our southern
neighbours.
To address this concern the Government
committed to a strategy that aimed to
double overnight visitor expenditure in
NSW by 2020. The Visitor Economy
Industry Action Plan (VEIAP) provided
48 recommendations and 171
associated actions to unleash the
industry’s untapped potential and meet
this ambitious target.
In Destination NSW’s 2013/2014 Annual
Report it announced that over 80% of
the Plan had been delivered. Over the
first two years, annual visitor
expenditure increased by $7.7 billion
from $20.2 billion in 2012 to $27.9
billion in 2014. To reach the target, an
additional $8.7 billion must be
generated every year for the next five
years. Current levels of cooperation
between industry and the government
are to be applauded, however with the
low hanging fruit now picked, much
remains to be done.
With over 95,000 tourism businesses in
New South Wales generating more than
257,000 jobs and contributing $27.9
billion to Gross State Product (GSP),
tourism is a vital sector of the New
South Wales economy.
The Tourism Industry division of the
NSW Business Chamber (formerly the
Tourism Industry Council of NSW) helps
businesses operating in the visitor
economy maximise their potential to
ensure New South Wales remains the
number one tourism destination in
Australia.
With the next State election set for 28
March 2015, the Tourism Industry
division seeks the support of all sides of
politics to commit to a positive agenda
to grow, invest, secure and engage
the tourism industry in NSW.
The current state of tourism in NSW
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Tourism contributes $27.9 billion to
NSW’s Gross State Product (GSP)
NSW is currently ranked #1 in
overnight visitor spend, number of
overnight visitors and number of
visitor nights
Tourism investment in NSW in 2013
totalled $4.74 billion (21% of tourism
investment in Australia)
With the low Australian dollar domestic
tourism will need to remain robust,
increasing the importance of regional
tourism
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Grow
To achieve the targets set out in the
Visitor Economy Industry Action Plan, a
stronger foundation for tourism
development needs to be established.
Policy and governance frameworks need
to be aligned for growth. We need NSW
looking to not just maintain its position,
but to capture new investment and
opportunities in the sector.
To meet our growth targets the Tourism
Industry division calls on the next NSW
Government to:
1. Reform local government to simplify
and strengthen partnerships with
industry
government boundaries. Stronger,
better resourced and more strategically
focussed councils are needed to ensure
local tourism operators have the
essential local services they need to
thrive and grow.
For far too long, land use planning, the
State’s key economic lever, has acted as
a handbrake on new tourism
investment. If NSW is going to meet
the targets under the Visitor Economy
Industry Action Plan, a new planning
system is required. To support growth
the new system should feature:
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2. Create a better environment for
investment by creating a new land
use planning system
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3. Develop a state wide destination
management planning (DMP)
framework to link the disparate set
of regional DMP plans already
produced by stakeholders across
NSW
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4. Realise the untapped tourism
potential of Western Sydney to
create more jobs closer to where
people live
5. Address the skills shortage in the
tourism industry through the
delivery of service sector skills
training programs.
The current governance and financial
structures of local government impede
the tourism industry’s ability to grow.
The frustrating complexity of local
government and its 152 individual
councils has created unnecessary
bureaucratic roadblocks to an industry
which requires consistency across
More flexible zones where tourism
activity is permissible
Formal consultation processes with
tourism bodies at the plan making
stage
Economic and Tourism growth as
key objectives.
To tie together the reforms of local
government and planning, a state-wide
umbrella framework of destination
management plans (DMP) needs to be
established. The fragmented set of
regional DMPs leads to inefficiencies as
they are often developed in isolation. An
overarching NSW plan is required to link
regional infrastructure priorities with the
diverse needs of the state’s various
destinations and experiences. The
framework must distinguish ‘emerging’
destinations that need more product
development assistance from ‘mature’
destinations that require more
marketing assistance to compete
effectively with other States and
offshore. This is potentially a game
changer to overcome a 20 year period
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of stagnation in overnight visitation in
regional NSW as a whole.
Western Sydney is full of untapped
tourism potential waiting to be realised.
Regions such as Penrith, the Hills and
the Hawkesbury are emerging with
exciting new tourism products and as
attractive centres for visitation. A strong
tourism industry could provide
thousands of jobs for the rapidly
growing population. The development of
the Western Sydney Tourism Strategy is
an opportunity for government to set an
agenda to support this growth. A first
step should be to examine the funding
criteria of the Regional Visitor Economy
Fund (RVEF) so that these important
destinations are not denied access to
funding.
The NSW Business Chamber Tourism
Industry division is calling on the
government to immediately address the
quarantined funding gap by increasing
the RVEF to allow for the inclusion of the
Western Sydney region. This will allow
businesses in Western Sydney to
compete on a level playing field when it
comes to tourism funding immediately.
The scarcity of skilled workers is an
increasing problem across NSW’s
tourism industry. Coupled with a high
rate of youth unemployment – standing
above 16% in some regions –
investment in skills development for the
service sector is required. We call on the
next Government of NSW to partner
with industry to deliver vocational
training programmes which will meet
the service skills demand of regional
and rural tourism.
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Invest
Like all economic activity, tourism
requires enabling infrastructure to
support its operations and growth. The
Tourism Industry division strongly
supports the proposal to lease NSW
electricity assets and to reinvest the
estimated $20 billion dollars in proceeds
into new infrastructure.
The Tourism Industry division calls on
the next Government of NSW to:
1. Proceed with the long term leasing
of the State’s electricity assets to
focus investment on productive
infrastructure that supports tourism
2. Commit to infrastructure investment
in both metropolitan and regional
areas
3. Simplify the process for releasing
crown lands and assets for tourism
use.
The long term lease of the State’s
electricity network is the right approach
to turbocharge investment in new
infrastructure for our State. Regardless
of the outcome on the 28th of March, the
next Government of NSW needs to
commit to this reform to boost economic
activity including tourism.
To help drive employment and support
greater tourism growth, the Tourism
Industry division seeks commitment
that a proportion of the proceeds of the
lease will be provided to both direct and
indirect tourism infrastructure. New
sports stadia, museums and attractions
such as “rail trails” will help in
generating tourist interest across the
state.
In addition to funding sporting and
cultural infrastructure directly, a healthy
tourism sector demands that essential
road and transport projects are also
allocated funding. International and
domestic tourists rely on safe and
efficient infrastructure to travel around
our state. Investing in airport and road
upgrades and maintenance will improve
access and draw tourists to extend their
visits beyond the State’s metropolitan
centres. To ensure that investment
supports tourism, a specific allocation of
proceeds derived from the poles and
wires initiative should be made available
to boost regional tourism infrastructure
requirements. Investment in tourism
infrastructure that improves access,
conference opportunities and stimulates
mid-week overnight visitation in
regional areas should be a priority.
As the popularity of caravan and
camping continues to rise, so does the
need for greater access to crown lands
and assets. Greater access will stimulate
private and public sector partnerships
for infrastructure developments which
will help meet demand in the tourism
sector. To simplify the process and
encourage private sector investment,
we call for the development of a single
planning approval process for the
release and use of Crown and National
Parks.
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Secure
Much work has been done over the past
four years to develop strategies to
bolster NSW’s tourism industry.
However, a number of these strategies
and plans have been left on the shelf
leading to uncertainty and instability for
industry.
The Tourism Industry division calls on
the next Government of NSW to:
1. Release the NSW Regional Business
Events Strategy to give operators
clarity on government priorities
2. Develop and release a Cruise
Development Plan to leverage
NSW’s global position as a leading
cruise destination
3. Establish a Tourism Crisis
Management Taskforce to integrate
planning and natural disaster
preparedness and make NSW a
better and safer place to visit.
In 2012 the Visitor Economy Taskforce
committed to developing a NSW
Regional Business Events Strategy by
2013. Delay in releasing the report has
hindered the industry’s growth. Some
regional areas have already seen
significant private sector investment to
encourage mid-week occupancy – for
example the Blue Mountains (The Hydro
Majestic Hotel) and the Hunter (The
Crowne Plaza). However, regional
business event operators need clarity on
government priorities so that additional
investments can be made in regional
meetings, incentives, conferences and
exhibitions facilities and activities.
Australia’s cruise industry is ranked
number one in the world for market
growth and penetration. NSW must
ensure that it has the infrastructure and
strategy in place to benefit from this
growth, not only in Sydney, but also
through exploring regional berthing
opportunities. The cruise industry has
experienced enormous growth over the
past decade; however the limited
capacity in Sydney Harbour to facilitate
this growth puts the future of the
industry at risk to other States and
destinations. This also puts at risk the
businesses that support and rely on the
cruise industry, such as those providing
food and other supplies to restock the
ships and retailers who benefit from
increased visitation to central Sydney.
The best way to secure the benefits of
the industry’s growth is to negotiate
greater access to Garden Island and
invest in upgrading the cruise facilities
so that Sydney remains the berth of
choice. This must be prioritised in
harmony with the needs of the defence
industry.
The impact of bushfires, floods and
other natural disasters hit the tourism
industry particularly hard. Not only are
they impacted by the property damage
experienced by the rest of the
community, but also by drops in
visitation rates as tourists avoid affected
areas. We call on key government
agencies including Destination NSW,
local councils and emergency services to
partner with industry to develop a
Tourism Crisis Management Taskforce to
integrate planning and natural disaster
preparedness and make NSW a better
and safer place to visit.
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Engage
A systematic approach to policy decision
making is required to give the industry
the stability it needs to invest and grow.
Engagement with industry needs to be
prioritised with decision makers capable
of implementing policy in attendance.
To ensure that the tourism industry is
engaged effectively, the Tourism
Industry division calls on the next
Government of NSW to:
1. Establish a tourism Cabinet subcommittee with key Ministers to
ensure whole of government
decision-making on tourism
2. Arrange six monthly meetings with
Ministers, Departmental heads and
industry to track progress and
delivery on strategic tourism
objectives
3. Publish a scorecard on the Visitor
Economy Industry Action Plan to
keep government and industry
accountable
For the reason that the visitor economy
is influenced by a broad range of
stakeholders, a tourism Cabinet subcommittee should be established to
ensure a whole-of-government and
cohesive approach to policy
development. Comprising Ministers in
the tourism and major events, planning,
transport, education, roads and freight,
sport and recreation, local government,
and small business portfolios, the
committee would consider the broad
range of issues that impact on tourism
and monitor progress in implementing
decisions on tourism projects.
The Visitor Economy Taskforce report
released in 2012 recommended the
establishment of a special subcommittee of Cabinet, and
implementing a formal relationship
between government and industry to
assist in the implementation of the
Visitor Economy Industry Action Plan.
This is required to facilitate the
necessary collaboration and to hold all
stakeholders accountable for the
implementation of the Action Plan and
for reporting to government on progress
toward the 2020 expenditure growth
target. After two years of
implementation there is still no record of
a scorecard against the actions
achieved.
For further details please contact:
Dean Gorddard
Executive Manager, Tourism Industry division, NSW Business Chamber
T: 0428 194 870 | E: [email protected]
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