Spirits Update – Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Hi everyone,

I wanted to provide you with an update on the new Spirits.

I know that you have been keenly awaiting the arrival of our new ships.

The new Spirit of Tasmania vessels will deliver unprecedented opportunity for our tourism and hospitality businesses.

They will have 40 per cent more capacity for freight and passengers, bringing even more visitors to Tasmania.

Last week, we took ownership of the first of our brand-new Spirit of Tasmania vessels (Spirit IV) in Finland, which is a significant step forward for this important project.

I have made it clear to TT-Line and TasPorts that I want this project delivered as quickly as possible.

Both organisations, in partnership with the Department of State Growth, are working hard to present options to me.

To drive this work, I have appointed Ben Moloney and Peter Gemmell.

Ben Moloney has done an outstanding job at delivering two of Tasmania’s biggest infrastructure projects, the redevelopment of the Royal Hobart Hospital and the new Bridgewater Bridge.

Peter Gemmell has 40 years’ experience in infrastructure delivery, in both the public and private sector.

While this work is underway, I want to assure you that we are continuing to prepare for the vessels arrival, through a number of initiatives that will drive visitor demand, and encourage visitation over the coming months.

As part of our $12 million investment into the Visitor Economy Strategy, we are committing significant funding to deliver priority infrastructure projects that will help us prepare for the arrival of the new Spirits.

We have coupled this with an additional $4 million to Tourism Tasmania for marketing initiatives that will drive visitor demand.

Tourism Tasmania will continue to work with the Spirit of Tasmania on opportunities to encourage visitation to the state to ensure the increased capacity provided by the ships is optimised for the state, including regional visitor economies.

In addition to these investments, we are working hard to maximise visitor numbers for the 2024-25 summer season.

In line with past practice, TT-Line will continue to offer additional day sailings to meet demand.

Tourism Tasmania will deliver its off-island summer marketing push with their Come Down for Air spring/summer campaign, and will work with peak industry bodies to look at what else can be done to stimulate demand moving through this spring and summer and into next winter.

We are also investing $5 million through our Events Tasmania Attraction Fund to secure more events and business events for the State.

I am proud of our strong and growing Tourism and Hospitality industry.

Tasmania is a truly unique destination, with so many competitive advantages.

Just last week, we celebrated Devonport being named Australia’s Top Tourism Town for 2024.

As we drive the delivery of this once-in-a-generation project, I will keep the industry updated with regular bulletins and important information.

I will also meet again with the Tourism Roundtable on the 1st of November to provide a more detailed update on progress.

This project is essential to our tourism and hospitality industries and I am working hard to deliver it as quickly as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jeremy Rockliff
Premier of Tasmania