Page 1562 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 April 2013
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It is the biggest year in events for our city. We had the very successful major exhibition at the National Gallery, Toulouse-Lautrec. We look forward to Turner from the Tate over the winter period. That is a fantastic opportunity for the National Gallery to compete with the National Gallery of Victoria in terms of winter exhibitions. It is a risk for the gallery and they have acknowledged that, but normally that winter period has been held by the NGV with their Winter Masterpieces but we believe that the opportunity with an exhibition of the quality of Turner from the Tate will be one that will be strongly supported.
I would also particularly like to highlight the National Folk Festival as a premier event for our city. More than 50,000 patrons attended. Round one of the national capital rally championship was held from 1 to 3 March, the first time in five years, and was a very successful event for the city. The Rugby League test match, the AFL hall of fame and the netball dinner are all coming up in a very strong program for 2013.
Importantly, though, we need to build on the legacy of this centenary year and look ahead to the opportunities that are there for Canberra, particularly to take advantage of the infrastructure that we have. The new lights at Manuka Oval of course now offer the possibility of Canberra being a venue for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. We have already secured our involvement in the 2015 Asian football cup; we will host six pool matches and a quarter final. That is a big outcome for Canberra and for Canberra Stadium.
We were looking not just to this centenary year but beyond, and through the strategic planning work that is underway for the establishment of a dedicated events unit within the Economic Development Directorate I believe we have a very strong basis for a future events program that will continue to drive visitors to our city. But equally—and I think this is another important element, given that it is ACT taxpayers’ funding that goes to support these events—events in the territory provide the opportunity for Canberrans to experience world-class art, sport and culture. It is a fantastic opportunity for our citizens to enjoy all that is on offer.
Finally in the time that remains I will just make some observations on that quarterly data in relation to tourism accommodation. I do note, and it is pleasing to see, that there has been nearly a seven per cent increase in the number of rooms available in the territory in the December 2012 quarter compared to the December 2011 quarter.
Australian Capital Tourism were able to provide me with some historical information in relation to hotel occupancies over a period of time. Even in that December quarter, which, yes, was down on the previous quarter, we still had the highest hotel occupancy rate of any jurisdiction in Australia. We have consistently been above the national average. The peak, it would appear, over 10 years in terms of room occupancy was in the March quarter of 2010—that aligned with the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition—when there was 80 per cent hotel occupancy.
I looked back on what it was like in the Olympic year. In the December quarter in the Olympic year hotel occupancy was 59 per cent. In 2012 it was 65.8. I looked at
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