Page 3648 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 13 September 2017

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(b) continue to partner with national cultural institutions to deliver events;

(d) promote the use of Women’s Safety Audits in preparation of ACT events and in line with the ACT Women’s Action Plan 2016-26, to ensure women’s full, equal and safe participation;

(e) commit to increasing local content to assist local artists to showcase local arts and entertainment;

(f) implement a new festival celebrating Canberra’s innovation, strengths and global outlook;

(g) establish a new music festival; and

(h) introduce an iconic Canberra midnight celebration for New Year’s Eve.

Canberra may be described as just an oversized country town by our haters, but we are proving to be an increasingly popular tourist destination. Canberra has so much to offer. We are surrounded by beautiful countryside and pristine national parks, we are home to iconic cultural and political institutions, we have a vibrant cafe and dining culture, and we are host to world-class events and festivals.

We do not always agree on much in this chamber, but one thing I think we all agree on is that Canberra is a great place to live. Our enthusiasm for this city is what encouraged many of us to seek public office. And we are far from the only people who think this. Canberra’s tourism industry is thriving, as both domestic and international visitors are visiting in ever increasing numbers.

This success can be attributed to the cooperation between our government and innovative Canberrans whose ongoing efforts have helped make Canberra the destination it is today. But, like anything, there is always room for improvement, and this motion seeks to call on the government to explore a range of options for how our major events schedule could be improved, benefiting the tourism industry and our broader economy.

Canberra is a growing tourist destination. In 2016, we received 214,500 international visitors and 2.5 million domestic overnight visitors. This represents an increase of 9.1 per cent for international visitors and 2.7 per cent for domestic visitors from the previous year. These international visitors stayed for 4.55 million nights whilst domestic visitors stayed a huge 6.37 million nights. For a city of just about 400,000 people, these are impressive numbers.

Our international visitors are coming to Canberra from across the globe. Canberra continues to remain a destination for traditional markets like the UK, the US and New Zealand. It is also becoming an incredibly popular destination for visitors from across Asia, with the largest number of international visitors to Canberra now coming from China. This growth from Asia has been rapid. For example, since the previous year, the number of Chinese visitors rose 26 per cent, Singaporeans 72 per cent, Indonesians 43 per cent, and South Koreans 38 per cent.

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