Kingscote Airport Business Case - Kangaroo Island Council - SA ...

Kangaroo Island Airport Upgrade Business Case
4 Project need
“Australia’s proximity to expanding Asian markets coupled with a worldwide and
increasing demand for unique tourism destinations marks the beginning of a new era of
tourism growth and investment opportunities.” 9
Kangaroo Island, will need efficient, reliable and flexible air access to enable Australia
to be able to exploit its investment in the promotion of Australia to the world market and
realise the potential of the $140 billion in overnight tourism spend in Australia.
As the only aerodrome on Kangaroo Island supporting RPT traffic, Kangaroo Island
Airport is of significant strategic importance, not only as a key tourism gateway to
Kangaroo Island but in its provision of essential transport services to the remote
Kangaroo Island community, provision of emergency services and increasing general
aviation activity. It is therefore a critical component of the community’s infrastructure
needs and social and economic future.
Analysis shows that Kangaroo Island airport will face significant pressure on existing
infrastructure within the near future. The lack of adequate infrastructure (including
runway, terminal and security considerations) is an absolute inhibitor of commercial air
travel in the future.
This section further identifies the need for the airport upgrade which cuts across a
number of significant economic and social requirements in this community.
4.1 Tourism
4.1.1 Support to tourism organisations
The airport upgrade will support time sensitive tourism access for this internationally
marketed and well recognised tourist destination. The Tourism strategies are
promoted on multiple levels, and so it is natural to expect that fast efficient and reliable
air access is taken for granted by the international travel community.
The following discussion describes the investment in marketing which is not being
exploited due to a lack of quality air access.
Current marketing investment and research findings
Australia’s National Landscapes Program is a partnership between Tourism Australia
and Parks Australia which promotes areas of outstanding natural beauty and cultural
significance. Kangaroo Island is one of only 15 national landscapes to be promoted
around the world as one of the country’s truly great nature based tourism experiences.
Tourism Australia recently undertook a major international tourism research project into
how consumers view Australia and the factors most likely to motivate them to visit. A
key finding of the research was that Australia’s biggest strength is its world-class
nature, well regarded from all markets and core to our global tourism offering.
Research into destination appeal and the tourism potential of key Australian holiday
options supports the importance of Kangaroo Island (like that of the other iconic
destinations – the reef, the rock and the opera house/bridge), to Australian tourism, see
Figure 5 below.
9 Commonwealth of Australia, 2012, Australian Tourism Investment Guide – May 2012, p10.
May 2013
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