Page 294 - Week 01 - Thursday, 27 February 2014
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MS GALLAGHER: I thank Ms Porter for the question. As I mentioned in my previous answer, over half a million people have visited the arboretum since opening one year ago. As well as building a solid local community following, the arboretum has attracted many visitors from interstate and overseas. We know these visitors spend time in other ACT institutions and utilise hospitality, accommodation, recreation and entertainment options that the territory has to offer.
The arboretum has also played a very important role of international significance as the home to many diplomatic ceremonial tree plantings, which has received quite an amount of international media attention. The arboretum has also accommodated international media and given exposure to overseas audiences, particularly in Asia and the Pacific.
The arboretum enjoys joint promotion with tourism bodies around Australia and is quickly becoming a must-see attraction for visitors to the ACT. The event facilities have also been popular with over 10,000 people attending a function at the arboretum and the third Voices in the Forest concert attracting 5,000 people last year.
I expect that as the trees grow and the forests really become older and more magnificent than they are now we will see the arboretum’s reach as a tourist destination grow further and further.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Smyth.
MR SMYTH: Minister, how is the data collected and then verified to give you the number of half a million visitors in the first year?
MS GALLAGHER: Sorry, the number of—
MR SMYTH: How is the data collected and then verified?
MS GALLAGHER: It is collected based on visitors to the village centre by the Friends of the National Arboretum who count arrivals through the village centre.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Dr Bourke.
DR BOURKE: Chief Minister, what further plans does the government have to improve the facilities at the Arboretum to ensure that it continues to attract local, national and international visitors?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Dr Bourke for his question. The National Arboretum’s strategic advisory board has developed an infrastructure master plan that sets out a range of projects with specific time frames. This looks at projects for the next five years, five to 10 years and the long term. These projects will be funded through varying means as resources become available, with support from the ACT government when that is agreed through a budget process, while others will be supported through external funding such as sponsorship programs.
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