Page 2836 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 21 October 1992
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Brisbane, where I invited the industry to hold its conference and awards ceremony in Canberra. Last Friday night the National Tourism Awards were held in our city and I am pleased to report to members that Canberra did a magnificent job in hosting the 1992 awards. I was very pleased to see other members at those awards. All comment of which I am aware supports the view that the awards in Canberra were the best national awards that have ever been staged. This is testament to the maturing of our industry and recognition of its ability to compete more than favourably with any other city in Australia.
Members will be as pleased as I am, I am quite sure, with the ACT region's performance. I am sure you will join me in offering congratulations to our winners, who included the Hyatt Hotel, the Bungendore Wood Works, Floriade and the ACT Institute of TAFE, which is about to become the Canberra Institute of Technology. The recognition accorded to the School of Tourism and Hospitality at the TAFE strikes a positive note in its bid to establish an international hotel management school in Canberra. This is a very exciting proposal which we all hope will put Canberra in the forefront of hotel management training. The 1992 Awards Ball was an excellent opportunity for the nation to see a display of Canberra talent. The Canberra City Band and the Meryl Tankard Dancers drew very favourable comment from guests. The fact that the ACT performed twice as well in the awards as it did in 1991 is a further reflection of the growing maturity in our region's tourism industry.
If we needed further evidence of this, we have only to look at the performance of the industry in terms of occupancy levels and visitor numbers. Members will recall that the ACT enjoyed a 12 percentage points increase in its occupancy levels for the June quarter, while the national increase was less than one percentage point. Although the third quarter will be less spectacular because it represents our traditionally low period of winter, I am advised that we can expect the fourth quarter to show a major increase in all indicators. Improving profitability can be expected to encourage the industry to provide significantly more jobs for our young people. The Tourism Commission, Madam Speaker, has indicated to me that it expects employment in the industry to grow by about 700 jobs in 1992-93.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to inform members that a preliminary study has now been completed on the October long weekend, which saw the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial coincide with an excellent Floriade. Our predictions were that the weekend would be worth about $3m or $4m to our economy. The preliminary survey indicates that we have been extremely conservative in our prediction, with the actual figure looking more like $9.5m. We have, indeed, much to look forward to over the next 12 months. Members will be aware that the Canberra Casino will commence making its contribution to our economy on 14 November. This should provide a useful boost to the tourism industry and to youth employment. It will also make it easier to market Canberra as a convention destination.
The events unit which the Government funded in this year's budget is already showing some good results. Amongst the events being supported by the events unit are the Pacific Power Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic, the inaugural Canberra Fishing Festival of 1993, the Australian Long Track Motor Cycle Speedway Championship, the 1992 Esanda Rally of Canberra, the World Cup Showjumping, the Coca-Cola Youth World Cup Soccer Tournament, the ACT Women's Golf Championship, the Capital Cup International Women's Soccer Tournament, the Kanga Cup International Youth Soccer Series, and the National Folk Festival.
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