Portfolio Media

No leave, no life: NO GOOD

16 September 2009

The No Leave No Life campaign for domestic tourism has failed monumentally, according to latest tourism figures, says Shadow Tourism Minister Steven Ciobo.

National Visitor Survey data out today has showed domestic visitor nights slumped by 10 per cent in the first half of 2009  – a performance labelled “disastrous” by one peak tourism body. Overall tourism spending also fell 5.6 per cent in the same period.

Mr Ciobo said the calamitous drops coincided almost exactly with the period of the much-vaunted No Leave No Life campaign which launched last December to encourage Australians to holiday at home rather than heading overseas.

It also smashed the myth the Labor Government’s $900 sugar hits had helped underpin domestic tourism in Australia, he said.

The figures for Australians’ favourite domestic holiday spot, Queensland, were particularly worrying, with a 12.8 per cent drop in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year.

“These figures are of great concern and are evidence the No Leave No Life campaign hatched on Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson’s watch has failed the industry,” Mr Ciobo said.

 “The figures are particularly worrying given domestic tourism accounts for almost 75 per cent of industry turnover. Minister Ferguson’s neglect of the industry has so far cost an estimated 20,000 jobs – this industry cannot afford to lose any more jobs, especially in hard-hit regions such as Tropical North Queensland.”

“Only last week Minister Ferguson was telling the media the No Leave No Life campaign had been a ‘great success’,” Mr Ciobo said. “I think these figures have put paid to that as nothing more than unfounded Labor Government spin.”

“Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was very quick to smear the Where the Bloody Hell Are You campaign as a ‘rolled-gold disaster’, but at least that saw expenditure go up. What does that make the No Leave No Life campaign - a platinum disaster"”

Mr Ciobo said to make matters worse, the figures showed not only did domestic tourism take a massive hit in the first half of 2009, but also confirmed the number of Australians heading overseas went up 1.3 per cent.