Congratulations to Barilla Bay and Candy Ab on their exciting new tourism venture, The Oyster and Abalone Centre.
The centre is set to build on the two companies’ fine reputation for producing some of the best seafood in the world, and includes a native shellfish aquarium, interpretation for visitors and an abalone factory.
This experience will add to the already popular and well established Barilla Bay restaurant and tour operations, which boasts prime proximity to the airport and a gateway to the Tasman Peninsula.
It joins a growing list of gastronomical experiences that are tempting hungry travellers to Tasmania with the promise of a “paddock to plate” experience, or in this case “ocean to plate”.
According to Tourism Australia research, the growth of gourmet tourism is a billion-dollar opportunity.
Tasmania has an impressive market share already, with more than 280,000 interstate and international tourists visiting a food producer in the 12 months to September 2014. That’s almost a seven per cent increase on the same time in the previous year.
There’s huge potential for more growth too, with the latest Tourism Tasmania survey finding more than 60 per cent of Australians planning to holiday in the next couple of years listing speciality food and wine producers on their must-see list.
These are impressive figures, but we’re confident that experiences like The Oyster and Abalone Centre will help increase those and reach our target of attracting 1.5 million visitors to the state by 2020.
Will Hodgman, Premier Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events
