Attached DocumentsAchievements
Relationship with Government
The foundation for the TICT's working relationship with the Government of the day is our Protocol Agreement. Under the Agreement the TICT has enjoyed a close working relationship with subsequent Governments in pursuing our common vision for the industry which is set down in the Tourism 21 strategic business plan. Tourism 21 provides the strategic direction and blue-print for action to improve the performance, competitiveness and structural efficiency of the tourism industry in Tasmania.
Forged in 1997 as a benchmark joint industry and State Government 10-year strategic plan, Tourism 21 has provided the focus and the strategic framework for what is today - a vibrant billion-dollar plus Tasmanian industry employing 39,600 people in tourism and related industries.
The new targets (set in December 2007) for Tourism 21 are to grow the rate of interstate visitors from it's current 4.2% to 5% by 2010 and international visitors from 3% to 4% by 2010. These new targets also aim to increase the annual visitor expenditure to $2.7 billion with a further projection by 2017 to $4.3 billion.
The TICT is committed to ensuring bipartisanship continues as a key plank for tourism policy in Tasmania, and the organisation maintains its commitment to briefing all Members of State Parliament, including the Opposition, Greens and Members of the Legislative Council on key issues.
Strategies to achieve the targets set out in the new plan include:
1. Building on the strength of our current brand positioning - our natural environment, pristine beauty and peacefulness.
2. Getting our message across to our target customers.
3. Working closely with airlines and sea carriers to help build the services on which the future of our industry depends.
4. Significantly improving Tasmania's tourism infrastructure.
5. Stimulating greater levels of tourism investment.
6. Identifying and marketing experiences that deliver on people's expectations of the brand.
7. Taking full advantage of the many new multi-media communications techniques available today to get the message to key markets in the most efficient way.
8. Raising industry standards and increasing the professionalism and quality of service in the industry.
9. Raising the profile of the Tasmanian tourism industry as a great place to work for young Tasmanians as well as tourism professionals from interstate and overseas.
Bass Strait Visitor Access Study
The TICT is proud to have facilitated what we believe will be seen historically as a major contribution to the long-term economic wellbeing of Tasmania.
For many decades problems with air and sea access were a major constraint to growth of the tourism industry and the Tasmanian economy. A shortage of seat capacity on aircraft and of passenger and vehicle berths on the single ferry meant Tasmania simply was not able to meet visitor demand. Until the Bass Strait Visitor Access Study (BSVAS) Governments did not have sufficient credible data on which to base decisions to spend the money required to improve services.
The TICT secured funding from the Commonwealth Department for Industry Science and Resources and the support of Tourism Tasmania and other Tasmanian industry organisations to engage interstate consultants to carry out an independent Study.
The research demonstrated there was an unsatisfied demand for visitor travel across Bass Strait and that 80% of travellers wanted to travel with their car. The Study recommended two over-riding priorities for Tasmania – firstly to move quickly to provide additional sea passenger transport capacity; and secondly, to develop and maintain genuine sustainable competition in Bass Strait airline services.
Both these objectives have now been achieved through the State Government's purchase of the Spirit of Tasmania ferries and the introduction of regular Virgin Blue, Regional Express and, more recently, Jetstar services to Tasmania to complement the services provided by Qantas.
Tasmanian Visitors Survey
Prior to the decision to buy the two Spirits the TICT's key lobbying focus was to secure the necessary reliability and flexibility of sea transport using monohull ships operating in tandem. It was also important to increase passenger and vehicle capacity and provide lower fares and higher frequency. The BSVAS conclusion - that with the correct set of responses Tasmania could generate up to 90,000 more visitors a year; $100 million of additional visitor spending and creation of 3,000 new jobs, has been more than vindicated by the rapid growth in visitor numbers, jobs and visitor expenditure.
Accreditation
Among the major challenges facing the Tourism industry is the need to ensure that visitors leave Tasmania with impressions of an excellent experience so that they come back and tell others about what Tasmania has to offer.
Our accreditation program is becoming a standout success - not only locally but also in a national context. Tourism business development is the basis of everything we promote to an increasingly discerning market; and it is pleasing our operators understand and accept this. In taking accreditation, TICT believed it would take the regulatory element out of it and make it more a user-friendly self-help process, and this appears to have worked.
The figures prove this point. There are approximately 3000 tourism businesses accredited nationally, of which accredited Tasmanian businesses account for over 1000 - an outstanding proportion. Furthermore we continue to work on refining the process with continuing reviews and feedback. TICT is at the heart of quality assurance and it is a winner for the industry.
Education & Training
The TICT conducts various research projects to assess the stability and growth of the tourism industry. Research is done on either a quarterly or yearly basis and is often in conjunction with Tourism Tasmania.
In this past year, we have conducted a study into the training needs and demands of industry. The results have acted as a catalyst for an ambitious change program to be undertaken at Drysdale Institute of TAFE. The changes occurring as a result of our lobbying will ensure our industry needs for training are delivered in the format that best suits tourism businesses in the future.
Recently TICT undertook the 2008 Training Demand Profile Project funded by Skills Tasmania. TICT engaged sub-contractor, Mischief Business Engineering, to undertake the necessary research for the project.
The scope of the project was to provide advice in order to review, update and improve the tourism and hospitality training demand profile for the tourism and hospitality industries identify issues relating to the current delivery of training in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
The final Training Demand Profile Report 2008 has been prepared by Mischief Business Engineering.
Tourism & Forestry Protocol Agreement
The Tourism and Forestry Protocol Agreement was signed between the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania, Forestry Tasmania, Forest Industries Association of Tasmania, and Private Forests Tasmania on the 19th September 2003. The spirit of the protocol is to ensure that both industries, as significant contributors to the Tasmanian economy, can reach mutually satisfactory outcomes to issues that may arise as the result of one industry negatively impacting on the other.
For further information on the agreement please visit www.tourismforestryprotocol.com.au.
