Page 3219 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
In recent years significant changes have occurred in the industry, placing demands on educational institutions to provide relevant training to meet the needs of this workplace. A change in the direction of marketing tourism which extends beyond the domestic tourism market has had a great impact on types of services and how they are to be provided for international visitors. A greater understanding of cultural aspects is required, as well as adequate and relevant training to serve the needs of our customers. Quality tourism is dependent on suitably qualified and trained personnel, and to provide this we need to be able to document the skills needed. We need to be able to continue assessing the development needs of the existing work force and we need to be able to work towards ensuring that tourism education and training programs provide the right level of high-quality training.
To meet the needs of anticipated growth in the industry, funds also must be made available from both the government sector and the private sector. Facilities provided must be adequate and they must provide realistic situational training. Part of the challenge will be to determine how we implement the necessary changes in both industry and tourism educational and training organisations.
Australia, and indeed the ACT, is still in its infancy in relation to the international tourism market. We still have a capacity to develop further and capture the imagination of overseas travellers. Areas such as cultural experiences through Aboriginal culture, Australian art, sporting events, heritage, recreation, natural outdoor wilderness attractions and farm holidays are largely untapped within the ACT region and, indeed, in Australia. Canberra and this Government are very serious about tourism as an industry. It is a little known fact outside the ACT, Mr Deputy Speaker, that we now have 55 per cent of our work force employed outside the public sector. We have no choice but to expand our private sector employment opportunities, and tourism is the industry most likely to contribute to the economic and employment health of this city and the region.
Recently, as Mrs Grassby indicated and as Mr De Domenico commented on, we hosted the National Tourism Awards. As was also said, the hosting of that event this year was a real testament to the maturing of our industry. But, importantly, it is testament to the recognition of our ability to compete more than favourably with any other city in Australia. National recognition accorded to the School of Tourism and Hospitality has been critically important. It strikes a positive note in our bid to establish an international hotel management school in Canberra. This is a most exciting proposal which we all hope, as Mr De Domenico commented, will put Canberra in the forefront of hotel management not only in this country but in the whole of South East Asia, if not in the world.
Improving profitability can be expected to encourage the industry to provide significantly more jobs for our young people. The Tourism Commission's predictions have been enunciated by Mrs Grassby, but let us have a look at what it means to actually create jobs in this tourism industry. Mr De Domenico is quite correct. The substantial contributors within this industry, in general, are smaller businesses. They must be able to provide continuing employment opportunities in order to attract people to provide the necessary training and to help us reduce the number of people, particularly our youth, who are unemployed. The critical point is that they must be able to provide continuing employment. It is not much good for a person who is unemployed to get a week's work, and three months
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .