While I know many of you will be busy in the midst of summer trading, today I wanted to provide you with an update on efforts underway across the visitor economy to drive demand this winter.

Off the back of booming domestic travel following COVID-19, last year saw more Australians travelling overseas again. At the same time, we know many Australians are dealing with cost of living pressures, therefore ensuring we are doing what we can to drive visitation over the winter and remain competitive has been on the top of the TICT's advocacy list.

Yesterday, I joined the Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Events, Nic Street, and the CEO of Tourism Tasmania, Sarah Clark, to provide an outline of what is being done across destination marketing, access, Events Tasmania and business events to drive demand in a coordinated way. The TICT welcomes all our demand generators working together as closely as they have, and for the first time, an events calendar which includes all known events has been developed for industry to access. You can see that by clicking here.

Further, the Premier announced;

• In addition to the 70 events locked in across the State during the winter months, additional national sporting events have been secured in hockey, water polo, athletics and tennis. These events will bring families who will hopefully stay longer and invest in our communities.
  
• Additional funding for existing winter events being Festival of Voices and Beaker Street Festival to enable them to attract more interstate visitors in the absence of the broader DarkMofo festival;
  
• A second round of the Event Marketing Tasmania grants will be launched providing funding to support interstate marketing for events being held in winter 2024;
  
• Eligible new festivals can apply for up to $30,000 funding through Events Tasmania's one-off assistance program;
  
• Tourism Tasmania will undertake its largest Off-Season marketing spend on media channels, new creative elements and a television commercial; and
  
• There will be increased investment in trade and airline partnerships and its industry support program which will aid around 137 businesses.

The TICT is committed to working across industry to ensure we are collaborating as much as we can to ensure our state’s tourism experiences and products are connected with the Off-Season campaign and we have offerings available for our visitors.

The TICT will continue to monitor the situation and take feedback from our operators over the coming weeks. We would especially like to thank those of you who completed our December 2023 quarter business activity survey - this feedback is important to our conversations.

For now, enjoy the remaining month of summer.

Amy Hills - Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Council Tasmania