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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 3 Hansard (25 March) . . Page.. 871 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

Festival a further $3.5m a year, and the Canberra Home Improvement and Leisure-Pleasure Exhibition contributes $3m annually. Mr Speaker, these represent only a handful of the events that are held on an annual basis - and just at Exhibition Park in Canberra. The Exhibition Park management estimates that events already listed at EPIC over the next 12 months will attract more than half a million visitors. The Royal Canberra Show this year attracted a record 165,000 patrons over its three days, further evidence that Canberra is maintaining, even improving, its economic stability and that of the region.

Events like the Royal Canberra Show are important not just to Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory; they are a significant contributor to the economic wellbeing of the whole of the Australian capital region. But major events such as the show and Summernats, whilst they attract huge crowds over a short period, are not necessarily the biggest contributors to our local economy. Visitor numbers are not the only indicator of economic impact. For example, Mr Speaker, delegates to national conventions and conferences booked at EPIC are mainly from interstate and stay in motels and/or hotels for up to five nights. For this year's show every hotel room in Canberra was booked out. There is also a significant flow-on benefit to restaurants, shopping centres and transport activities. Likewise, Mr Speaker, for sporting events such as the Australian National Arabian Championships, more than 1,500 competitors alone will stay on average for six nights in the ACT during the current fortnight.

These figures do not include events such as Floriade, the FAI Rally of Canberra, visitors to the National Gallery of Australia, visitors to the Australian War Memorial, and visitors to the Federal Parliament and other Federal activities which encourage visits to the ACT. The National Multicultural Festival has just been conducted very successfully at various locations throughout the city. I know all were very pleased with the outcomes. We have the Australian Jazz Festival, the Tour de Snowy International Women's Cycle Race, the PGA Tour Championship at Royal Canberra Golf Club, the Black Opal Stakes race meeting, the Canberra District Vintage Festival, the Australian Science Festival, the International Chamber Music Festival, the National Capital Dance Sport Championships, the Kanga Cup Soccer, the ANU Chess Festival, the Canberra Cup race meeting and Oktoberfest. The list goes on and on, Mr Speaker.

On top of that we had 23 international groups promoted by embassies participating in more than 150 events at the National Multicultural Festival. With the world's spotlight firmly focused on the national capital during the Year 2000 Olympics and the centenary of Federation of this great country in the year 2001, events like these festivals will showcase Canberra as the most vibrant and multiculturally diverse city within Australia. Last year's festival in its smaller format attracted nearly 4,000 participants to the various programs and generated approximately $1.9m in economic activity. Significantly, over 21 per cent of the attendees at last year's festival were from outside the ACT-Queanbeyan region. Figures for this year's festival are expected to be similar and very pleasing. Floriade's attraction to people from throughout Australia and internationally is well documented. There is little need for me to elaborate on the contribution that this festival makes annually to the economic growth of the city.

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