Page 270 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
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$25 billion a year is spent by domestic and international tourists, representing 6 per cent of gross domestic product.
Because it is a labour intensive industry, tourism's job creating capacity is staggering, with over 28 per cent growth per year, representing 20,000 new jobs with a total of 430,000 people employed in the industry; or, to look at it from another perspective, 6 per cent of the work force in Australia is employed in tourism and over 10 per cent of new jobs created since 1983 have been in that industry.
This order of magnitude holds similar significance in the ACT where tourism is our largest private sector industry behind construction. It employs some 8,000 people and generates $370m per annum. The potential for growth in revenue generated by tourism to the ACT is enormous. It has been estimated that encouraging domestic tourists to increase their average length of stay by one night would increase revenue generated by $90m per annum. I would just like to emphasise that: if we can increase the average length of stay by one night it would increase the revenue by $90m per annum.
Increasing the lengths of stay of international visitors by an additional night would add a further $8m. Further, if the ACT's current share of the domestic visitor market were increased to 4 per cent and average length of stay extended by one night, domestic tourism would bring in $1 billion annually to the ACT economy. We must also not forget the Queanbeyan and surrounding districts tourism industry, which are inextricably linked to our economy. Given the regional perspective, tourism's economic impact is even further enhanced.
Tourism is well suited to creating employment opportunities for the bulge in the number of young ACT residents expected to enter the labour force over the next five years. The opportunities for the growth of tourism in Canberra and the region are very encouraging - a modern city set in a rural environment, surrounded on its outer perimeter by excellent ski fields, mountain scenery, historical villages and some of the best beaches in Australia. Our proximity to Sydney, Australia's largest population base, business centre and the busiest inbound gateway, provides the most attractive ingredient: a strong market.
The dramatic improvement in transport infrastructure, particularly the road networks and proposed developments such as the very fast train, will bring even greater opportunities. With 80 per cent of trips in Australia being by motor vehicle and a trend developing for holiday makers to travel shorter distances - that is, less than 500 kilometres - over shorter periods, on average four days, Canberra's share of the market must grow.
Similarly, the very important convention and incentive markets are now becoming increasingly more attracted to
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