Page 273 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
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ensure that the industry is given every opportunity to succeed. Its prosperity will filter through the entire economy, having many benefits, not the least of which is the impact on employment. The Government is committed to providing the maximum possible level of resources to tourism in a tight budgetary climate.
However, the onus is on all associated with the industry to work to convince Canberrans of the benefits that tourism can bring to the city. I have asked the bureau to build on last year's local awareness campaign and I am sure, with industry, the Canberra community will learn to appreciate fully tourism's worth. Whilst the Government is aware of the need to provide additional resources to enable the Tourist Bureau to market Canberra, there is a clear onus on the industry to bear some responsibility for increased marketing efforts.
Many in the industry already cooperate with the bureau in its many marketing activities. We need to build on these relationships and look at further ways to pool our resources. Neither I nor the Government professes to have answers to all the complex challenges that confront the ACT tourism industry. We have a genuine belief in the consultative process, and we can work with industry to build a strong and viable tourism industry.
MRS NOLAN (10.58): May I say at the outset that I am very pleased that the Government has put forward such a motion in relation to the tourism industry and that it recognises the contribution the industry makes to the growth and diversification of the ACT economy. The Liberal Party recognises that the tourism industry is one of the major growth industries in the private sector and has greater potential to boost the ACT economy than any other sector. However, in order to see that this should happen, better promotion of the ACT as a tourist destination through sensible measures must happen in the short term.
Fundamental to this is the establishment of a tourist commission and a smooth transition period from the Canberra Tourism Development Bureau to that commission. The commission should be the main coordinating body for the marketing of Canberra as a tourist destination, both domestically and internationally, encouraging and coordinating initiatives from both the private and public sectors. However, use should be made of the Australian Tourist Commission, as other States and the Northern Territory do, our overseas carrier Qantas Airways Ltd and other international carriers.
The commission should also be responsible for servicing tourists, with private sector involvement, through information centres during their stay in Canberra. Once an autonomous body is established, with its primary objectives clearly defined, the commission will establish a close working relationship within industry, and this relationship should culminate in the effective implementation of an
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