Page 3210 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
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The Canberra visitor survey which the Chief Minister released last week is a further clear indication of a continuing improvement in the performance of the industry. Some statistics from that survey that would interest members include the following: During 1991-92 there were 1.3 million visitors to Canberra - an increase of 15 per cent over previous years. There were 1.1 million domestic visitors, over half from New South Wales and nearly one-quarter from Victoria, and 220,000 were international visitors - a quarter from the United States and another quarter from the United Kingdom. Over 90 per cent of visitors to Canberra have a high level of satisfaction with the city as a tourist destination.
Over the past 12 months we have seen a range of victories for the ACT tourism industry, and I will list a few of them for the benefit of members. Madam Speaker, the 1992 Floriade was a major success, far and away better than any previous Floriade. The recently released Floriade survey gives the following facts: Floriade attracted 460,000 people this year - an increase of 13 per cent over 1991. Of these, over 220,000 were visitors to Canberra and half came specifically to see Floriade. Those visitors who came specifically to see Floriade spent $12.9m, mostly on overnight accommodation, shopping and restaurants. Floriade enables an estimated 350 jobs to be sustained in the local economy.
The long weekend in October, in which we had the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, goes down in history as Canberra's biggest weekend in tourism terms. The city was booked out and $9.5m flowed into our city's economy. But these economic advantages were not as significant as the public relations benefits the city gained that weekend. Much has been made of the recent spate of Canberra bashing, but that weekend did more to reverse the negative perception of Canberra in the minds of some Australians than anything any of us could have done.
Early in the year the tourism industry formed itself into a Canberra Region Chapter of the Australian Tourist Industry Association. Madam Speaker, this action is a clear indication of the growing maturity of the city's tourism industry. The Government finds it most constructive to be able to seek an industry view on any subject from this organisation. It is significant that the industry chose to call itself the Canberra Region Chapter. This reflects the view held by both the industry and the Government that promotion of the Canberra region is of great benefit to both Canberra and the communities that surround it. After all, what tourist cares where the dotted line separating the ACT and New South Wales is drawn. What tourists want is a quality holiday experience that can be best provided by drawing on the resources of the whole region.
Members will be aware that the Tourism Commission has gone through a radical restructure. Its staffing levels have dropped from 62 to 40 and it is performing much better than it ever did before. Unproductive offices in Sydney and Melbourne have been closed and the consequent savings redirected to marketing the city interstate and overseas. This more aggressive and sales oriented approach to marketing is a major contributor to the positive results that we are now seeing almost every week. In the last budget the Government funded a new tourism development unit. That unit, amongst other things, is charged with supporting a range of events which will help to fill the troughs in the tourist calendar. This is particularly important because it gives the industry the confidence to make permanent staffing appointments rather than continue with the practice of concentrating on casual employees. This can only be to the benefit of Canberra's young people who are looking for a job in a growing industry.
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