Tourism Industry

_{28 October, 2008}

TOURISM INDUSTRY
Ms JARRATT (Whitsunday—ALP) (11.57 am): I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the
Cairns regional parliament today. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Tourism, Regional
Development and Industry, I am pleased to speak today about the Bligh government’s support for the
tourism sector. Cairns is one of Australia’s premier tourist destinations. By way of evidence, in the last year
far-north Queensland boasted eight million domestic visitor nights, 6.3 million international visitor nights
and more than $2½ billion in total visitor expenditure. These are impressive figures that tell of the
importance of tourism to the regional economy. The tourism industry in Queensland has faced some tough
times over the last 12 months and far-north Queensland has not been an exception. However, the Bligh
government has not given up. We want to create a stronger Queensland. We want to create a diverse
economy powered by bright ideas, and we want to continue to work to our strengths. Tourism is one of
those strengths.
Earlier this month the Bligh government negotiated a deal with Jetstar which for the first time will see
commercial flights connecting two of the state’s most important tourism icons, the Gold Coast and Cairns.
The Premier knows how much the tourism industry in north Queensland has suffered this year, and the
Bligh government intends to help the region through the tough times. The Bligh government has worked
closely with Tourism Australia and Tourism Tropical North Queensland to secure three new weekly Jetstar
flights between Cairns and the Gold Coast.
These flights will connect with Queensland-bound Japanese flights which will improve Japanese
access to far-north Queensland. This is a great win for Cairns and tropical north Queensland. Just
yesterday Jetstar announced that it would be making additional flights from Perth to Cairns. Under Premier
Bligh’s Q2 vision, the Queensland government is committed to strengthening key industries such as
tourism. Increasing the number of passengers who can make it to our great regional destinations is an
essential part of achieving this goal.
Attracting international tourists to Queensland is a central part of Queensland’s ongoing tourist
attraction activities. Tourism Queensland is currently investing $700,000 in international marketing
initiatives targeting the United Kingdom, German and USA markets. This also involves negotiations with
key airlines to help protect Queensland’s tourism industry over the next 12 months. Tropical north
Queensland is a key focus in these campaigns.
In one very exciting initiative, international travellers will be offered special fares to Queensland
under a deal negotiated by Premier Anna Bligh and tourism minister Desley Boyle to boost our tourist
market. The Qantas fare cuts were negotiated by the state government after the airline cut services into
some of Queensland’s key tourism regions in May. The benefits include a 17 per cent discount, worth up to
$1,200 on trips from London to Cairns. The deal allows travellers to fly into Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne
and get a free return trip to Cairns.
In a move designed to attract Japanese tourists back to Queensland, flights from Hamilton Island to
Japan will no longer need to overnight at Cairns Airport. Domestically, Jetstar has committed to operating
more flights when required on the Sydney to Hamilton Island route during heavy booking periods. As the
Speech by Jan Jarratt extracted from Hansard of Tuesday, 28 October 2008
File name: jarr2008_10_28_59.fm Page : 2 of 2
member for Whitsunday I feel this is an encouraging commitment to my own region, which alone saw a
21 per cent reduction in domestic air capacity this year.
In other recent aviation wins for Queensland, Eva Air is increasing services from Taipei to Brisbane
from three per week to five per week in the period from early December to the end of January. This will
increase access for Taiwanese and Chinese visitors to Queensland.
AirAsia X is increasing services from Kuala Lumpur to the Gold Coast over the Christmas-new year
period, increasing access for Malaysian and Chinese visitors to Queensland. Jetstar will increase seat
capacity on the trice-weekly Melbourne-Townsville route by almost 20 per cent from 26 October by
upgrading the size of the aircraft deployed. From 1 October, Japan Airlines is code sharing with Jetstar on
its Osaka-Gold Coast and Tokyo-Cairns services, which means that Japanese tourists can now book seats
on these flights through Japanese travel agents and JAL representatives. This is all good news for tourism
growth in far-north Queensland. They are very good aviation initiatives achieved through the Bligh
government’s commitment to tourism.

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