PARTY STATE

Night-time economy leads nation

WE ARE no longer the sleepy state — with Tasmania’s night-time economy now a bigger part of our state’s economy than on the mainland. New research for the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors shows that night-time businesses such as restaurants, bars and entertainment venues account for 9.4 per cent of the state’s employment. That compares to 8.9 per cent nationally. And the sector is growing, with an overall 8.3 per cent increase in employment within night-time businesses in the 12 months of the study.

PREMIER Will Hodgman has denied the state is attracting too many tourists and says there is a danger talk of over-tourism will scare visitors away.

Mr Hodgman said tourism was providing much-needed jobs and economic growth for the benefit of Tasmania.

Continued sustainable growth was key to the state’s future, he said.

“I’m concerned, as I think many Tasmanians would be across the state, that there are some who are now seriously suggesting that we pull down the shutters put the brakes on growth and turn people away from visiting our state or send a message to the world that we don’t want anymore tourists here,” he said.

“When you look at our rate of growth it’s strong but it’s sustainable, 2 per cent over the last year has brought a lot of visitors to our state, but it is manageable and we need to do more to invest into getting them to see our state, to disperse them across Tasmania and to increase the return on our investment.

“But if we send a message to the rest of the world that we no longer want tourists here they’ll get it and that will damage and hurt Tasmania businesses right across the state. It’ll cost jobs.”

The owner of the Mures restaurants on the Hobart waterfront, Will Mure, said business was booming.

“What we’re seeing now is the summer busy period now is extended right up to about six or seven months of the year which is brilliant, we don’t want to go back to where we have a busy period of three or four months and then there’s the absolute doldrums through the winter,” he said.

“We have been here for over 30 years and I think it’s fair to say we’ve got more confidence in the future of the business of hospitality in Tasmania than we’ve ever had before.

But Mr Mure said continued investment was necessary to manage growth.

“We have sustainable growth in tourism and we need to keep that happening, that sustainable growth.

“We need to ensure that we are investing back into infrastructure to handle that growth.”

If we send a message to the rest of the world that we no longer want tourists here they’ll get it and that will damage and hurt Tasmania businesses ... it’ll cost jobs