Page 3659 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 13 September 2017
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Mr Pettersson’s motion highlights the importance of events in generating domestic and international visitors, and they are a key part of attracting people to our city. We seek to be recognised as a leading events destination that provides a high quality, enticing suite of year-round events to show off the city and the broader Canberra region. We are committed to building and nurturing Canberra’s events calendar through event delivery, through funding events, through attracting new events and through the ongoing development of our existing events.
Our city needs a bold and diverse events portfolio that incorporates a range of artistic, cultural, sporting, community and special interest pursuits throughout the year. Events bring life, colour and vitality to the city and the region. They help to build a strong sense of community pride, they help to shape public perceptions of Canberra and they showcase and share the very best of ourselves and our city. Supporting events as key drivers of the visitor economy has also been identified as one area of focus for realising our city’s tourism potential.
Since 2011 the ACT government’s special event fund has supported 21 completed exhibitions and events, attracting in excess of 2.9 million attendees and delivering an estimated $636 million in economic return to the territory. The major events strategy, the strategic framework of the ACT government’s approach to acquiring and operating events, was launched this week. It outlines our vision to have Canberra recognised as a world-class events destination and one whose events reflect the city’s essence and personality.
It outlines the plan for making Canberra an even more event-friendly destination, defines major events by distinguishing between regular anchor events and one-off feature events, looks at practical ways to support event organisers, and identifies how events will consistently be reviewed and measured. The major events strategy will assist in developing a balanced and diverse major events portfolio that harnesses Canberra’s competitive advantage as an events destination, that aligns with our city brand positioning and enhances national and international exposure of Canberra’s people, our places and our way of life.
Engagement with events stakeholders has clearly identified the need for a more streamlined system for doing event business. I addressed this through the creation of Access Canberra. This gives a single point of contact within government for event approvals. Events and event organisers continue to have links and synergies across a range of other ACT government agencies, including those related to tourism, the arts, venues, sport and recreation, trade and investment and urban renewal. This approach can assist events in reaching their full potential, it certainly supports the ACT government in better leveraging our investment and it can encourage new event organisers to consider Canberra as a viable events destination.
Events have a proven capacity to generate significant economic outcomes. The major events strategy will ensure that Canberra is recognised as an innovative and creative destination renowned for its major events. A vibrant event offering also helps drive population growth by positioning Canberra as an attractive place to live. Our recent event successes have provided further momentum for harnessing our rich community
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