Phil Hoffman, Chairman of the South Australian Tourism Commission spoke with John Alwyn-Jones

JAJ: Phil, you have a very successful travel agency operation in Adelaide which has been responsible for sending thousands of South Australians out of SA on holiday, so how is it that you are now heading up the organisation that is responsible for getting visitors into South Australia?

PH: That question is often asked and basically, the model is just the same. We need to apply the same philosophies to inbound to SA as I have applied to my business over the years and made it very successful.

I am also a South Australian and proud of it and to be given the opportunity of leading my own State’s tourism organisation is something I am very proud of indeed.

The business principles are the same, you have to market the destination and we have to have destination specialists to do that and we work with operators to train their staff so that they become specialists on SA.

You have to undertake, “in their face” marketing of the destination.

It is simply a reverse role but the principles are all the same.

We have to maximise our marketing $$ and be selective with 80% of the business is produced by 20% of the operators.

The really good thing is we have great CEO and terrific staff who do a great job.  Everyone knows Bill Spurr both in Australia and internationally, but the sad part is that he is retiring next year and not renewing his contract, which will be very difficult for us.

He will stay on until after the Police and Fire Games in March next year as he is Chair of that and wants to do that.

I have worked with Bill for over 20 yrs and it been a really great pleasure to have done so.

We have also created an environment where SA fully supports the Federal Government and Tourism Australia’s marketing activity, with Joe Hockey having set the scene.  I believe that he had great respect for our Premier Mike Rann and our Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith and that legacy has carried through.  Fran Bailey has taken continued it and we believe that tourism has to be apolitical and we will not alter course because of a new Minister

SATC has a clearly stated plan about how we want to grow and we look at it and revise it regularly – it is the blueprint for tourism in SA.

JAJ: How will SA use ATE 2006 as a tool to secure additional support and even funding from the SA Government?

PH: Mike Rann has had a very good feeling this week and of course operators will get back to the Minister.  He is without doubt more sympathetic to tourism and we shoot well above our weight in comparison to other States, but we cannot afford to get behind the others States and countries in marketing dollars.

I will also be contacting Minister Jane Lomax-Smith to speak with her, the Government and the Premier to discuss the impact of ATE and what it has done for Adelaide and South Australia.

The Government is supportive but they can be better and more supportive.

It is all about how we spend the dollars and we have limited budgets that are and need to be spent wisely and we have to prove we can drive the numbers.

Air is a good example, because while we have been very successful in getting additional services, we need to fill this capacity first, so we do not want to over do it by getting too many services.  We have had good wins from Cathay, Malaysian, Singapore and Qantas and we know if they do not make the numbers they will pull out.  These are airlines that have supported us and we want to demonstrate that support.  We have to sustain the numbers.

We also have to have the funds to market SA overseas, although 80% of our business is domestic at the end of the day and we always have to be mindful of also growing that.

Bill has been great in working with other states in particular WA and NT and VIC on Great Ocean Road in the Asian market

We have to remember that international visitors do not come to one State when they come to Aus.

JAJ: Are you supporter of the Australia branding?

PH: We are absolute supporters of the one Australia brand but we need to make sure that our presence is there all the time and that we get the ROI we deserve.

I like the new campaign and it certainly raised awareness of Aus.  The ads are good and let’s not worry about the catchphrase, it is always about us being on the deck and driving the niche market.

JAJ: Phil Hoffman, it is always a pleasure speaking with you and thank you for your time.

Report by John Alwyn-Jones from ATE 2006