As hundreds of Targa Tasmania cars traverse our roads over the next week, it's as important as ever that from a tourism perspective, we continue to promote all that our magnificent state has to offer.
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Figures released last week only reinforce what many in the industry already know - and have been telling us for years - that Tasmania’s tourism industry truly is a shining beacon and an outstanding success.
The Tourism Info Monitor survey figures, collected between October and December last year, show that nine out of every 10 visitors to Tasmania rated it the most appealing holiday destination in both Australia and New Zealand.
Eight out of every 10 people who completed the survey during that three-month period went home and recommended a trip to Tasmania to their friends and family.
While our manufacturing industry has found the economy in which they now operate somewhat challenging in recent years, tourism is without doubt the big success story for our home state.
That was also underpinned over the weekend with news that our cruise ship season looks set to break records next year, with an expected growth of 60 per cent compared with last year – from 59 visits this year, to more than 94 the following – injecting an estimated $32 million extra into the state’s economy.
The Museum of New Art, MONA, on the shores of the Derwent River boasts the enviable status as a world-class tourism destination. But there are many more wonderful reasons to visit Tasmania than just MONA – the recently launched Three Capes Track, Freycinet National Park, Port Arthur, the Tamar Valley, Launceston's magnificent Cataract Gorge and Cradle Mountain just to name a few.
The state government set a target of 1.5 million visitors by 2020. We're not that far off that target already. Last year, 1.2 million people travelled to Tasmania for a holiday.
But that target of 1.5 million people holds greater significance than simply being just some arbitrary figure. It will mean we are creating more jobs in the tourism industry - in dollar figures alone it is estimated that many visitors will spend upwards of $2.5 billion a year.
This growth creates wealth across all of the state – not just in the tourism sector. It is up to us to make sure we are in the best position to take advantage of this growth now and into the future.
