Page 825 - Week 03 - Thursday, 25 March 1993
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I should like to remind members of the other board members who continue in office. They are Ms Tony Dale, president of the Canberra Visitor and Convention Bureau; Ms Elizabeth Whitelaw, Canberra Business Council; Ms Lyn Smith, head of the School of Tourism and Hospitality at the Canberra Institute of Technology; Dr Colin Adrian, acting head of the Economic Development Division; and Mr David Lawrance, chief executive of the Tourism Commission. I am very grateful, Madam Speaker, for the continuing commitment of these members.
I would like also to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to those members who have recently left the board. Mr Ron Brown, who has taken up a very senior position in the Premier's Department in New South Wales, has been instrumental in guiding the ACT tourism industry towards the excellent results it has achieved recently. Mr Vern Davies and Ms Shirley Rogerson also made significant contributions to the work of the board during the period that they were board members. Mr Don Hood, who recently left Canberra to take up an appointment with the Rydges hotel chain in Sydney, also made a significant contribution as a member of the board.
My Government is now confirmed in its belief that events are a major factor in the success of ACT tourism. I will be looking to the new board to advise me on how best we might enhance the Government's events capacity to maximise the economic benefits that cultural, sporting and other events can bring. I will be looking to the board to advise me on how we might best use the wonderful assets of our Territory. For example, Namadgi National Park, which occupies 40 per cent of the area of the ACT, has not been seen as a major tourism resource. Whilst my Government is adamant that the integrity of the park must always be uppermost in our minds, there is great potential for tourism uses for this wonderful resource. I shall be asking the new board to advise me early in its life on how best we can sensitively combine environmental and tourism benefits that the park possesses.
I will also be looking to the board for solutions to some of our chronic problems in ACT tourism, such as how we can fill the normally quiet winter period and how we can boost tourist numbers on Sunday nights. Members will also be aware that the Tourism Commission is currently reviewing its three-year marketing strategy. One of the changes of emphasis will be to enhance our international marketing. The new board will be very well placed to offer sound advice in this area. Whilst we have been particularly successful in taking our tourism program through its very tough but necessary streamlining process, the new board will have the task of moving ACT tourism into a new league. I am quite confident, Madam Speaker, that the new board is equal to this crucial task. I present a copy of this statement, and I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
Debate (on motion by Mr Westende) adjourned.
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