Page 3212 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
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Canberra under this program are now returning to the city with their families in great numbers. I am sure we all recognise that, having got a visitor here and shown them what a great place it is, the best advertisement you can get is their going back and telling everybody that they must come to Canberra.
Madam Speaker, holding the National Tourism Conference and Awards in Canberra last month was a fitting recognition of the growing prominence of the Canberra region as a tourist destination. Everyone who attended the awards went away with a very favourable impression of the city and a new appreciation of just how much our tourism industry has to offer the visitor. I would also like to take this opportunity to recognise the well-deserved awards that went to Canberra region industry nominees. Bungendore Wood Works received the award for tourism retailing. The ACT Institute of TAFE School of Tourism and Hospitality was recognised as leading Australia in this category of industry training and education. The Hyatt Hotel in Canberra received the national award for deluxe accommodation. We are very lucky in having a wonderful hotel like the Hyatt Hotel. I am sure we would all like to congratulate Samir, who has brought a new bride back to Canberra. There you are; I was able to tell Mr Humphries something he did not know.
Mr Humphries: Did she agree?
MRS GRASSBY: Well, he did not drag her back by the neck. She was very happy to come. I have met her and she is a charming person. Last but not least, Floriade received an award of distinction in the category of major festivals and special events. This result for the ACT region's tourism industry was spectacular, to say the least. I think we must all congratulate the people who were involved in this on gaining all these wonderful awards. After all, we are a small city and to take that many awards was wonderful. All in all, Madam Speaker, I can only be very optimistic about the prospects for our tourism industry.
Before I conclude I would like to mention some of the areas in which our industry and the Tourism Commission are likely to achieve further success in the forthcoming year. The next year should see arrangements in place where we can get some direct charter flights from Asia to Canberra. As members will be aware, the Australian Tourism Commission predicts that international arrivals will be increased by 11 per cent per year between now and the end of the century. With the new casino - I understand that Asians like to gamble - I hope that there will be planeloads coming to gamble. It is clear that the ACT must concentrate its efforts on the international market if it is to gain its share of this growth area.
The ACT Tourism Commission is forming much closer links with the Australian Tourism Commission and the New South Wales Tourism Commission, and already the results of these valuable relationships are obvious, both in Canberra and in the region. The ACT Tourism Commission will continue to become much more sales oriented and to adopt a more aggressive marketing stance. The commission will continue to expand its schools programs and to make further inroads into the over-fifties market. This is a very important market, as I am sure everybody knows. The over-fifties like to travel and they come in busloads. They do have money to spend, and that is exactly what we need. Our research shows us that gardening and fishing are the two areas that have the greatest exploitative potential for growth, and the commission is actively involved in each of these. A Mr Lloyd came from England to tell us about our gardens, and the sooner he goes back the better. (Extension of time granted)
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