One Sunday 1 December 2019 the Mercury published this letter of mine regarding visitor satisfaction. I wrote it with journalists in mind. I think it raises a few major questions about visitor numbers (how we wont meet Will Hodgman’s 1.5 million target next year) and that Tourism Tasmania doesn’t release statistics about visitor satisfaction. But rather than pick up new issues, you might say ground breaking, the Mercury on 3 December ran with a truly desperate story comparing Tasmanian's overseas visitors per capita with Queenslands.

I contacted the journalist and said:

'I read your article on overseas visitors and thought you might be interested in this letter (published last Sunday 1 December 2019). Visitor satisfaction seems to be a no-go area for the tourism industry and Tourism Tasmania. By the way, overseas visitors as a proportion of a states population is not a very valid measure - if it was ACT is smashing Tassie they are at 64% verses our 57%.'

Still no reply.

Peter McGlone

Letter to the editor
The Mercury
Is the level of visitor satisfaction the latest information to be kept secret from Tasmanians?
The Tourism Research Australia report 'International Visitors in Australia: year ending June 2019' found that Tasmania was the only state or territory to see the number of overseas visitors decrease. The number of overseas visitors to Tasmania dropped by 2% and the money spent dropped 5%. By comparison the ACT grew a massive 7% and is fast approaching Tasmania in number of overseas visitors (ACT 266,000 and Tasmania 300,000) and already exceeds us in terms of expenditure.

The total visitor numbers were 1.32 million for the year ending June 2019. With recent growth rates of 2-3% we are not going to reach the Premier's target of 1.5 million visitors by 2020. It is time to start asking questions about what is happening with tourism numbers and why. In the push for mass tourism I fear we sending too many tourists home unsatisfied.

The Premier reported recently in the Tourism 21 Report for the year ending December 2018 that only 56% of visitors were very satisfied with customer service and 33% very satisfied with value for money and these figures have not improved over the last 3-4 years (figures from the Tasmanian Visitor Survey).

The TVS asks the critical question 'Overall how satisfied were you with this trip to Tasmania?' but the results do not appear in the TVS reports on Tourism Tasmania's web-site or the Premier's Tourism 21 Reports. Is the level of visitor satisfaction the latest information to be kept secret from Tasmanians?

Peter McGlone
Director
Tasmanian Conservation Trust