Page 1278 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
representatives from China’s largest airline, China Southern Airlines, as well as Air China and Beijing Capital Airlines. China is Canberra and Australia’s biggest market by both visitor volume and visitor spend, and international direct flights present a significant opportunity for boosting regional tourism, trade, investment, freight and business opportunities.
MS CHEYNE: Chief Minister, what developments are taking place with low-cost carriers?
MR BARR: Again, this time two years ago we had no low-cost carriers operating in our market. Following a concerted campaign by the ACT government and tourism industry partners to demonstrate aviation opportunities that Canberra presents we now have eight services a week and a strong demand for more frequency and new routes.
The success of Tigerair entering the market and connecting Canberra to Melbourne and Brisbane has shown that Canberrans will strongly support low-cost carriers and interstate travellers will strongly support them flying to Canberra. Tigerair now provides 200,000 seats a year, making it more affordable for Canberrans to travel and for leisure visitors to come to our city all year round.
This success combined with record leisure visitors means that there is an opportunity for securing more services and new routes to Canberra Airport. This includes the possibility of expanding Tiger’s existing services and for Jetstar to consider Canberra’s potential.
I can advise the chamber that I have recently met with the CEOs of both airlines to discuss the possibilities. The ACT government is working in partnership with Canberra Airport and our tourism authorities and with other state governments and their tourism authorities and airports to promote these opportunities. We look forward to that dialogue continuing and the announcement of new low-cost carriers entering our market soon.
MR PETTERSSON: Chief Minister, what have the recent international and low cost carriers coming into Canberra meant for the ACT?
MR BARR: I thank Mr Pettersson for the question. During 2018—the year, of course, that Lonely Planet classed Canberra as one of the top three cities in the world to visit—we recorded a record number of both domestic and international visitors. Air access makes a really big difference to those outcomes and supports the growth of our visitor economy.
In 2018, we had 2.79 million Australian and over 251,000 international visitors, making for a combined total of over three million overnight visitors coming to Canberra. Importantly, our international visitor spend increased by 25 per cent for the year ending December 2018, which was well ahead of the national average of eight per cent, meaning that international visitors contributed $686 million to our local economy in 2018.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video