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

Kangaroo Island Airport Upgrade Business Case
The strong growth in visitors to Uluru by air was during a period of significant marketing
of Australia to international visitors, with many packaged tours including a trip to Uluru
by air. The current international tourist market for Uluru is slightly less buoyant, as
demonstrated in the preceding figure, with Uluru attracting 309,000 air passengers (or
about 155,000 visitors by air) in 2010/11, lower than air visitors in 1995/96.
In total approximately 318,000 overnight visitors were attracted to Uluru (including
domestic and international visitors) in 2010/11, with 49% arriving by air. In comparison,
Kangaroo Island with its currently facilities attracted approximately 150,000 overnight
visitors in 2011/12, with approximately 23,000 visitors (46,000 passenger movements)
or 15% arriving by air.
Implications of an upgraded airport
The significant growth in visitors to Uluru due to the major upgrade of the airport
demonstrates how important air access is to relatively isolated tourist destinations.
It is not anticipated that an upgrade of the Kangaroo Island airport will have as strong
an impact as the Uluru experience, given the current subdued tourism market and the
greater dependence of Uluru on air transport. However, the upgrade of the Kangaroo
Island airport, similar to the Uluru experience, is likely to have a positive impact on
visitor numbers to Kangaroo Island.
Modelling conducted by SATC, using Uluru as a benchmark, demonstrated that a lack
of direct interstate air access is limiting visitation to the Island by between 40,000 and
80,000 interstate and international visitors per year.
Uluru is considered a broadly comparable tourist destination to Kangaroo Island in
terms of providing an iconic Australian experience with significant access issues.
With the significant upgrade to the Uluru airport in 1985, passenger movements
increased by an average of 23,000 per annum, equating to an additional 11,500 air
visitors to Uluru per annum.
It is not anticipated that the upgrade of the Kangaroo Island airport will have as strong
an impact as the Uluru experience, given the current subdued tourism outlook and the
greater dependence of Uluru on air transport. However, the upgrade of the Kangaroo
Island airport, similar to the Uluru experience, is likely to have a positive impact on air
travel visitor numbers to Kangaroo Island.
May 2013
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