Page 1726 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
cricket, and this has only been made possible by the legacy of our centenary year infrastructure investment.
The big bash final provided the city with substantial national and international television coverage and was the perfect lead-in to our city being a host city for the cricket world cup—again, another legacy of our centenary year. This was one of two international sporting events staged in Canberra over the summer period. A further legacy of our success in hosting major international events in 2013 was that we were selected as a host city for the Asian Cup, one of the most successful football tournaments ever held in this country and which kicked off locally in January this year.
The event’s widespread appeal saw all five host cities achieve sell-out crowds. Canberra’s seven matches as part of the tournament achieved a combined attendance of 82,500 people. This was an outstanding result that exceeded expectations, particularly considering that these seven matches were staged across a 13-day period and did not feature an appearance by the Socceroos.
The cricket world cup helped to wrap up a huge summer of sport in Canberra. Manuka oval played host to three matches that generated a combined attendance of nearly 25,500—nearly 8,500 per match. This demonstrates our capacity to host these sorts of major events. The feedback from tournament organisers, both for the Asian Cup and for the cricket world cup, related to how well prepared the Canberra venues were for these fixtures, that they were up to international standard and that they were very impressed with the level of support and engagement from the community here in Canberra and the surrounding region.
Industry confidence in Canberra continues to be strong. This is demonstrated by a range of new infrastructure investments in our tourism sector that have recently opened, including Jamala Lodge at the zoo, the five-star Avenue Hotel on Northbourne Avenue, and the refurbished Kurrajong Hotel in Barton, which the Prime Minister and I opened earlier in the year. Other hotels due to open this year include the Vibe at Canberra Airport, and the Little National Hotel in Barton, which is part of the Doma Group’s hotel chain.
Looking forward, the ACT government will continue to invest in major events for the territory through the special event fund. We will continue to work closely with the Canberra Airport Group to grow aviation capacity at Canberra Airport domestically and internationally. It was very pleasing to see QantasLink’s announcement in relation to engineering jobs at the airport. That is an important marker of future prospects for aviation industry growth in Canberra. Investment is also being made in programs that are contributing to economic self-reliance and the broadening of our city’s economic base.
Experts such as Deloitte are predicting that tourism will be one of the five key industries to grow faster than average over the next 20 years. That is why federal, state and territory governments have, with respective tourism industry partners, signed up to the national strategy for tourism—tourism 2020. The target is to grow the national visitor economy to between $115 billion and $140 billion by 2020. The industry is indeed on track to meet the lower end of the target that was set.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video