Value of the Arts and Culture to Tasmanian Gross State Product (GSP)
What this report is about
Tasmania has a thriving arts and cultural sector – from galleries and festivals to screen production, live music, and First Nations cultural practice. But how much does all of this actually contribute to the state’s economy?
This report answers that question. It has been commissioned by Creative Tasmania to develop a new, rigorous way of measuring the economic contribution of arts and culture to Tasmania, one that reflects the full scope of the sector, not just the parts that are easiest to count.
Arts and culture contribute over $1 billion to the Tasmanian economy each year and employ an estimated 13,500–14,200 people – more than one in twenty Tasmanian workers.
Why a new methodology?
Until now, the standard national measure used by all Australian governments counted only one part of the picture, the direct output of arts and recreation businesses. For Tasmania, that produced a figure of $176.3 million (component 1).
That number isn’t wrong – but it is incomplete. It left out two things that are especially significant for Tasmania:
- Cultural tourism (component 2) – the visitors who come to Tasmania specifically because of its cultural life: its festivals, galleries, heritage sites and distinctive creative identity.
- Cultural education (component 3) – the contribution of arts teaching at school and university level to the broader education economy.
When these are included, using a methodology consistent with international best practice, the direct economic contribution rises to $618.8 million. Adding the flow-on effects through the wider economy brings the total to over $1 billion.
IMPORTANT: The increase from $176.3 million to $618.8 million is a measurement change, not an economic change. The sector hasn’t suddenly grown. We are now counting more of what was always there.
Why cultural tourism matters so much here
Tasmania is unusual among Australian states. Tourism plays a proportionally larger role in the Tasmanian economy than anywhere else in the country, directly contributing 5.4% of Tasmania’s GSP, compared with 2.9% in NSW.
And Tasmania’s tourism is distinctively cultural. Visitors come for MONA, for Dark Mofo, for the Salamanca Market, for remote wilderness experiences shaped by Indigenous cultural knowledge, for a creative scene that feels unlike anywhere else in Australia.
This means that when a proper cultural tourism attribution is applied, how much of Tasmania’s tourism economy is driven by cultural motivations, the result is proportionally more significant here than it would be in any other Australian jurisdiction.
Cultural tourism direct contribution: $434.7 million (2024–25 estimate) (or between $326m–$543m depending on the attribution used)
How many people does the sector employ?
The report uses a framework that recognises three types of creative workers, not just people employed directly in arts businesses, but also those whose creative skills are embedded in other industries, and those in support roles that keep creative organisations running.
On this basis, the creative sector in Tasmania employs an estimated 13,500–14,200 people, rising to over 15,000 on the high estimate. Fewer than a third of these workers are captured by the standard industry classification most governments use.
This gap matters for policy. If governments are making funding and workforce decisions based on a figure that undercounts the sector by two-thirds, those decisions are built on an incomplete picture.
Economic value is not the only value
One finding in this report deserves particular attention: three decades of justifying arts investment in primarily economic terms has not delivered commensurate policy recognition or resources for the sector. In some respects, it has narrowed the language available to make the case for arts and culture at all.
The economic contribution of arts and culture is real and significant. But it sits alongside equally significant contributions to health outcomes, social inclusion, community identity, and liveability – contributions that do not appear in any GSP figure and that economic measurement alone cannot capture.
This report provides the strongest possible economic evidence base. The sector and its advocates are best placed to decide how to deploy it.
Key figures at a glance
- Direct contribution to Tasmanian GSP (2024-25): $618.8 million
- Indirect (flow-on) contribution: $435.7 million
- Combined direct and indirect contribution: $1,054.5 million
- Creative sector employment (Creative Trident estimate): 13,500-14,200 workers
- Arts and recreation sector (Component 1): $176.3 million
- Cultural tourism (Component 2): $434.7 million
- Cultural education (Component 3): $7.9 million minimum
View a PDF of the Measuring the Economic Contribution of Arts and Culture to the Tasmanian Economy: A New Methodology (PDF 1.3 MB) report