Page 771 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2018
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tour was called Top Secret 2018. It is an annual showcase for meeting planners considering a national business event for Canberra in the future. The fully hosted program was an opportunity for national association and corporate meeting planners to visit and discover why Canberra is a fantastic destination for business events. This year over 20 organisations attended.
We all know that business events are major economic drivers across Australia, and it is vital that Canberra gets its share. For example, in 2013-14 over 37 million people attended 400,217 business events across Australia. These events are big business: $28 billion in annual direct expenditure; $13 billion in direct annual value added; over 179,000 direct jobs; and over $23 billion annual total economic contribution. The Canberra Convention Bureau continues to work to ensure that Canberra gets its fair share of this lucrative market and to grow that market.
The bureau was supported in this promotion by 30 local attractions and businesses, including the Trippas White Group, Funnel Entertainment, Elite Event Technology, Hiebl Photography, Imagine Events, Canberra Helicopters, Catherine McGrath Media, Ginger Catering, Murrays Coaches, Pialligo Estate, Restaurant Associates, the Big Group, National Convention Centre, National Arboretum Canberra and many national institutions. The following hotels were also supporters; Doma Hotels, Canberra Rex Hotel, Crowne Plaza, Ovolo Nishi, Hyatt Canberra, Peppers Gallery Hotel, QT Canberra, Rydges Capital Hill and the Vibe Hotel Canberra Airport.
At the dinner we had addresses from Jure Domazet, the chair of the Canberra Convention Bureau; Michael Matthews, the CEO of the Canberra Convention Bureau; and a brief address from Steve Jones of the Trippas White Group. The Trippas White Group should be congratulated on providing such a great dining experience on the group’s first day of operating the catering business at the Australian War Memorial.
The highlight of the night for me, and I am sure for most others there, was the keynote address from Dr Brendan Nelson, who has such a fantastic grasp of the material of the War Memorial and brought people to tears at one point and laughter at other points. He really does give a fantastic speech.
I congratulate the Canberra Convention Bureau, its board and its members on the success of this year’s Top Secret program, and I hope it is successful in attracting many more convention visitors to support our vibrant and vital tourism sector. I would also like to recognise the support provided by VisitCanberra to this program.
Mr John Hindmarsh—tribute
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for Regulatory Services, Minister for the Arts and Community Events and Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (5.34): I rise this afternoon to thank a generous and passionate Canberran, John Hindmarsh, for his service to the community on his retirement as the Chairman of the Cultural Facilities Corporation, or CFC. John—whose presence I acknowledge in the chamber today along with his wife, Rosanna, their sons and, possibly quite fitting for a person so involved in the arts, quite an audience as well—has spent the last six years
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