Page 3880 - Week 12 - Thursday, 30 October 2014
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Mr Hanson: You said since 2001.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! This is what happens, Mr Barr, when you engage in conversation rather than answer the question.
MR BARR: It is a very good point, Madam Speaker. The ACT’s tourism performance in 2013 was the strongest it has been since the Sydney Olympics, which was the biggest event in the world in that time and certainly had spill-over effects for tourism in the ACT. We continued to invest in our tourism and events promotion, and we will continue to see strong numbers for the territory.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Lawder.
MS LAWDER: Minister, what is the cause of the 1.7 per cent decrease in visitor trips to the ACT for the 2013-14 year?
MR BARR: In fact that would represent a larger number of visitors than the 2010-11 and the 2011-12 component. But the biggest lift in tourism numbers did occur in the first half of the centenary year, in 2013. So we did have an exceptionally high first part of 2013. Whilst Ms Lawder is correct that there was a decrease, it was a very small decrease off a very high base, which was higher than the numbers we had received in previous years. Again if Ms Lawder wants to be in the business of talking down our tourism sector, she is welcome to do that. I am in the business of talking it up.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Dr Bourke.
DR BOURKE: Minister, could you tell us more about your efforts to lift tourism numbers in the ACT?
MR BARR: I thank Dr Bourke for the question. The ACT government, through visit Canberra and through our partnerships with Tourism Australia, works very hard to continue to promote our city. There are true innovative campaigns such as the Tourism Australia award-winning campaign, the human brochure. This weekend there is a further spin-off of the human brochure campaign, the 101 local humans who are inviting friends and relatives to Canberra over this weekend to showcase our city’s many fantastic tourism offerings.
Through social media exposure, we continue to use cost-effective ways to promote our city in a range of different markets across our four key pillars of experience: food and wine, family friendly, action and adventure opportunities and those associated with the natural environment. We are continuing our efforts to promote our city in our largest markets, particularly Sydney, Melbourne and regional New South Wales, but also focusing on emerging international markets including Singapore and New Zealand.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Smyth.
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