Page 288 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
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strategies so far have been sadly lacking in terms of the overseas market. I would suggest to the Minister that in developing his marketing strategy he needs to look not only at the internal Australian market, but at the overseas market as well and figure out a strategy by which we can get foreign visitors to come to Canberra first.
That leads to other considerations, of course. If they are going to come to Canberra first, we have to have an international airport here so that they can. I believe that that is one of the things that we must press for strongly with the Commonwealth, that it establishes an international quality airport in Canberra. It has been argued that Qantas and other airlines will not come to Canberra. I say that that is rubbish. International airlines, including Qantas, will go where the passengers want to go. If we establish a marketing strategy that makes Canberra a first port of call in Australia, rather than the last one, then airlines will want to fly here and they will bring their passengers in here directly.
That leads me to the second point that I wanted to comment upon, and that is the regional ramifications of tourism for us. There is no doubt that there is an enormous hinterland out there - the snow country, the southern coast, the inland with its attractions which appeal to some people, sheep stations and the like. If we can bring tourists to Canberra first, we should be able to keep them here not only for three or four days, but for 10 or 14 days by capturing the market and becoming the centre of a tourist industry. We should be not on the periphery of it, but should become a centre of tourism.
Our marketing strategy has to take into account the fact that it is not only Canberra that people come to; it is the whole surrounding area with all the natural attractions that are available out there. I commend the Minister for taking the Liberal Party's proposal that there should be regional negotiations and machinery set in place to take account of all the regional ramifications of our economy which are so closely linked with those of the surrounding country.
My third point, I was pleased to note, was brought up by Mr Duby and has to do with protection from tourists. We have all talked at great length in recent months in our election campaigns and since about how we want to retain the amenity of Canberra as a place to live; we want to retain the environment, we want to protect our heritage and all of the other things which in themselves are good. There is a very real danger that unless we set up the proper control mechanisms and the strategy for handling tourists if they come in their millions, as we would like them to, they will destroy the amenity of this city.
I notice that it is something that Ian Warden is very strong about, and he has written about cities in England which he is familiar with and the damage that tourists and
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