Inquiry into Heritage Tourism and Ecotourism Tourism Victoria Submission Tourism Victoria is the Victorian Government’s lead tourism agency and aims to market and grow the State’s tourism industry. In achieving these objectives, Tourism Victoria implements State Government policies as they relate to tourism development in Victoria and contribute to whole of government programs and policy implementation. Heritage and nature-based tourism are an important part of Victoria’s overall tourism offering and have been the focus of many of Tourism Victoria’s strategies and marketing activity. Tourism Victoria’s overarching Jigsaw campaign, with the slogan ‘You’ll love every piece of Victoria’, promotes the State’s diversity. It identifies Victoria’s product strengths, including natural attractions, skiing, arts, theatre and culture, shopping, food and wine, spa and wellbeing, special events and exhibitions. This paper sets out Tourism Victoria’s engagement with the heritage tourism and ecotourism sectors and summarises relevant tourism data. It highlights the importance the two sectors in terms of overall visitation and spend in the State. These sectors are also part of the Victorian Government’s broader tourism strategies and policies to grow the Victorian tourism industry. On 23 July 2013, the Minister for Tourism and Major Events, the Hon Louise Asher MP, released Victoria’s 2020 Tourism Strategy. The Strategy outlines a plan to grow the state’s overnight tourism expenditure to $24.7 billion by 2020, or growth of 6.6 per cent per annum. The Strategy, which was developed in consultation with industry and other stakeholders, identifies the following seven priority action areas: Digital Excellence – improving the state’s capabilities across all digital platforms and encouraging local tourism operators to adopt capabilities such as online bookings. International Marketing – investing in activities that raise brand awareness in key growth markets, including marketing campaigns in China, India and South East Asia, as well as direct engagement through Government-led trade missions. Domestic Marketing – continuing to position Melbourne as a creative and authentic destination, and developing and implementing campaigns that promote regional Victoria to interstate and intrastate visitors. Major Events and Business Events – continuing to attract major events and business events. Air Services Attraction – increasing direct air services from key growth markets, particularly China, India and South East Asia. Investment Attraction and Infrastructure Support – supporting investment, services and products that align with the needs and aspirations of consumers in key markets, including Asia. Skills and Workforce Development – attracting more people to the industry in occupations that have historically had persistent shortfalls, such as chefs, housekeeping and front office staff. On 23 August 2012, the Victorian Government also announced its response to the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission inquiry into the tourism industry. The Government response agreed to a range of reforms to help grow the tourism sector, including allowing a wider range of tourism uses in regional planning zones and enabling appropriate and sensitive tourism products in areas of high natural amenity. These broader activities underpin and support specific tourism sectors, such as heritage tourism and ecotourism. HERITAGE TOURISM Heritage forms a key part of the cultural tourism offering in Victoria and is considered one of the State’s tourism strengths. It includes a broad range of attractions and can encompass the heritage aspects relating to townships, aboriginal tourism, architecture, art and culture. Examples of key heritage tourism offerings in Victoria include those associated with the gold rush, bush rangers, Chinese history, maritime history and Aboriginal heritage. Domestic and International Visitation for Visitors Participating in Cultural Tourism The following data relates to the cultural tourism visitation. Cultural visitors are defined as those who attended a theatre performance, a concert or other performing arts, a cultural festival, fair or event; or an Aboriginal performance and/or visited a museum, art gallery, art or craft workshop an Aboriginal site or community; or a history or heritage site while on their trip to Australia. International Visitation Almost 2.8 million international overnight cultural tourism visitors travelled to Australia in the year ending December 2012, accounting for 130.8 million nights. Of these visitors, 38.6% visited Victoria during this period. 1.1 million international overnight cultural tourism visitors to Australia travelled to Victoria on their trip in the year ending December 2012, accounting for 29.3 million nights. Cultural tourism visitors represent 59% of all international overnight visitors to the State. The average length of stay for international overnight cultural tourism visitors in Australia was 47.1 nights, compared to an average length of stay of 27.3 nights for international overnight cultural tourism visitors in Victoria. 2 Year ending December AAG** % 2008 2011 2012 08-12 change International Visitors (000s) Victoria 923 1,045 1,072 +3.8% p.a. 2.6% Australia 2,703 2,681 2,779 +0.7% p.a. 3.6% Vic's Share* 34.1% 39.0% 38.6% International Visitor Night (000s) Victoria 23,268 28,608 29,273 +5.9% p.a. 2.3% Australia 114,753 123,973 130,847 +3.3% p.a. 5.5% Vic's Market Share 20.3% 23.1% 22.4% * Note: The proportion of visitors to / within Australia who visited Victoria can visit more than one state ** Average Annual Growth There was an increase in international cultural tourism visitors who visited Victoria (+2.6%) and Australia (+3.6%) in December 2012 compared to the previous year. Since 2008, there was an average annual increase of 3.8% for Victoria and 0.7% for Australia. In the period year ending December 2012, there was an increase in international visitor nights to Victoria (+2.3%) and Australia (+5.5%) from international cultural tourism visitors compared to the previous year. The average annual growth rate since 2008 was 5.9% for international cultural visitor nights to Victoria, compared to 3.3% to Australia. In 2012, 38.6% of international cultural tourism visitors to Australia visited Victoria, representing an increase of 4.4 percentage points since 2008. Domestic Overnight Visitation Australia received almost 11.3 million domestic overnight cultural visitors for the year ending December 2012, accounting for approximately 59.8 million domestic visitor nights. The average length of stay was 5.3 nights. During the same period Victoria received more than 2.6 million domestic overnight cultural visitors, accounting for an estimated 9.5 million visitor nights. The average length of stay for domestic overnight cultural visitors to Victoria was 3.6 nights. 3 Year ending December AAG** % 2008 2011 2012 08-12 change Domestic Visitors (000s) Victoria 2,517 2,917 2,643 +1.2% p.a. -9.4% Australia 9,834 10,814 11,283 +3.5% p.a. 4.3% Vic's Share* 25.6% 27.0% 23.4% Domestic Visitor Nights (000s) Victoria 9,275 10,244 9,524 +0.7% p.a. -7.0% Australia 55,170 55,101 59,845 +2.1% p.a. 8.6% Vic's Market Share 16.8% 18.6% 15.9% Domestic Daytrips (000s) Victoria 2,495 3,538 3,321 +7.4% p.a. -6.1% Australia 8,645 11,007 11,463 +7.3% p.a. 4.1% Vic's Share* 28.9% 32.1% 29.0% * Note: The proportion of visitors to / within Australia who visited Victoria can visit more than one state ** Average Annual Growth Compared to the previous year, Victoria experienced a decrease in domestic overnight cultural visitors (-9.4%) and visitor nights (-7.0%). In contrast, Australia experienced an increase in domestic overnight cultural visitors (+4.3%) and visitor nights (+8.6%) over the same period. Since the year ending December 2008, there has been an average annual increase of 1.2% for domestic overnight cultural visitors to Victoria (compared to an increase of 3.5% per annum for Australia), and an increase of 0.7% per annum for visitor nights spent by these visitors in Victoria (compared to an increase of 2.1% per annum for Australia). Victoria’s share of domestic overnight cultural visitors has decreased (-2.2 percentage points) since the year ending December 2008, to 23.4% in the year ending December 2012. Over the same period the market share of nights spent by this segment in Victoria decreased by 2.7 percentage points to 15.9%. Engagement with the Sector Tourism Victoria’s engagement with the cultural tourism and heritage tourism sector dates back many years. Heritage provides the backdrop of much of Tourism Victoria’s promotion of the State. Images of heritage buildings and townships are often used in Tourism Victoria’s marketing campaigns, as they are visually appealing and create a sense of intimacy and interest. Melbourne is home to important heritage tourism attractions, many of which have been promoted in Tourism Victoria’s Melbourne marketing campaigns. Attractions include the historic features found in many of the CBD laneways, the World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building, historic theatres and art collections. Tourism Victoria’s promotion of many of the State’s regions incorporates heritage tourism, including: 4 the goldfields region, which includes the key destinations of Ballarat and Bendigo, as well as the many villages including Castlemaine, Maldon and Heathcote. The region is promoted as a rewarding contemporary, cultural experience set against a heritage backdrop; the Daylesford region, which boasts the largest concentration of mineral springs in Australia and has a rich heritage of spa and wellbeing; the Geelong and the Bellarine region, which features historic seaside villages; the High Country region; and the Murray River region. Heritage tourism, such as Aboriginal heritage and Chinese history, is also included in Tourism Victoria’s international marketing campaigns. In February 2010, the Victorian Government released the Arts, Theatre & Cultural Heritage Tourism Action Plan 2010-14.