We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples and the Traditional Custodians of Ngunnawal Country, the land on which we meet today. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and also recognise any other people or families with connection to the ACT and Region.
H.E. Gopal Baglay, Indian High Commissioner to Australia
His Excellency spoke on the ties between India and Australia.
India and Australia are strategic partners more so than ever with the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).
“Australia and India’s relationship is better than even before, and is poised to grow more than ever before”
H.E. spoke about working together as multicultural democracies who respect diversity. We are now recognising the ‘deep commonalities’ we have always had.
“As we travel – for whatever reason – it is the respect we take into these countries that defines us.”
The relationship between Australia and India is driven by our people. Our closer growing relationship is ‘like the sun, it’s always there, you sometimes don’t realise’.
H.E. took us back 150 million years, speaking about continental drift and the formation of our current land masses.
In the southern part of India, there are rocks which are among the oldest in the world. Even though we are thousands of miles apart, there are similarities in how we were formed.
Tourism
H.E. spoke fondly of Indian tourists and delegations from India seeing kangaroos for the first time.
He mentioned the similarities in geography, including beaches and weather.
“In a diverse country like Australia, where the country has such different climates. This is an attraction for Indians, who feel reminded of home.”
For example, 3 hours drive from Canberra are the Snowy Mountains and 2hrs flight from Delhi are great ski slopes.
When Indians come to Australia, they see the comfort of beaches, cuisine, democracy, diversity, excitement, entertainment.
“These are the tools we have to enhance the flow of tourists in both directions.”
Indians visiting Australia
India is one of the fastest growing markets for inbound tourists to Australia.
H.E. quoted a recent survey, where 60% of Indians knew where Australia was, 50% wanted to visit at ‘some time’ and 20% were planning a visit in the near future.
Reasons behind this increase
The growing Indian middle class is the force behind making India the world’s 5th largest growing economy.
Economic policy in the last 5-10 years have liberated young Indian entrepreneurs.
Surplus incomes amongst the young and the middle class are being used for travel. These groups are going further from their home country than ever before.
Indian tourists coming to Australia for business are not limited to this, taking days to explore Australia. This was not happening 5-10 years ago.
The mindset in India about taking leave from work to travel has also changed significantly.
His Excellency finished with a story about India’s connection to Canberra
Walter Burley Griffin travelled to India in his last years, spending time in His Excellency’s hometown of Lucknow, undertaking several major projects.
In conclusion, Australia and India are at the tip of the iceberg of their relationship and connectivity and the High Commission looks forward to supporting this.
Kieren Perkins, CEO of the Australian Sports Commission
Mr Perkins spoke about the Australian Institute of Sport's (AIS) recent funding and innovative programs.
Mr Perkins acknowledged His Excellency’s speech and the connection of Australia and India’s sporting rivalry.
“AIS is the home of sport in Australia, and we have never shied away from that. It is a significant institution.”
The AIS have 600 staff able to support over 40 sports in high performance activities.
They continue the rebound from the pandemic. In 2023 there were 100k visitors visiting as part of group tours and the AIS ran 203 high performance camps for 5200 athletes.
In it’s current form Mr Perkins said the AIS have some challenges to get to that ‘next level’.
In May, the federal government committed $249.7 million to upgrade the AIS.
Mr Perkins acknowledged the independent review from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, which reinforced the need for the AIS to remain in Canberra.
He also recognised the recommendations about the AIS in the ‘Capital for all Australians’ report led by Federal Member for Canberra Alicia Payne.
Proposed new AIS campus facilities
The funding will allow construction of new accommodation. A large indoor sports stadium to allow 24/7 training facilities. A testing and training centre – will allow us to expand into additional sports and support these upcoming athletes.
“This funding is about building sustainability in our programs to ensure in the run up to 2032 our athletes have access to the best services”
AIS Arena
With funding, activity is underway, and it is extremely close to being open and available.
We’re getting significant enquiries about these facilities; we’re looking forward to announcing an official opening date soon.
Canberra Stadium
An ongoing conversation, however, there has been an important forward movement with $10 million allocated to AIS/Bruce precinct planning.
The AIS will be engaged in the work and how this links through to CIT and Calvary and the entire Canberra community.
Innovation and basketball
AI and machine learning will put the AIS on the map as a tech sports hub.
The aim is for Australia to be the most AI-assisted sporting nation in the world.
AIS is home to Basketball Australia’s centre of Excellence and the NBA Global Academy support men’s and women’s programs.
There have been global talents through these programs, including Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels.
AIS tours
“We value and acknowledge our opportunity to inspire as a cultural attraction too.”
The AIS has behind the scenes tours for year 6 tour groups. Sport X is a favourite amongst teachers.
“[In the future] we’re looking to engage corporate and sports enthusiasts"
AIS was invited to be a member of Cultural Attractions Australia and is now included in the Canberra Mega Pass.
“This will allow us to drive to bring people in from across the country…looking to Paris and beyond there’s work to be done, we continue to innovate and develop.”
Mr Perkins concluded with a feature on their First Nations artwork ‘Kinship’.
The artist is Olympic athlete and former AIS scholarship holder, Brad Hore.
‘Kinship’ represents the collective journey and that sport is a place for everyone.
Question – how long will it take for AIS to be completed?
“The reality is that Brisbane 2032 is 8 years away. The fastest we get these facilities up and running, the sooner they can be used by our athletes. We’re developing our workplan currently and there’s decisions to be made.
For example, the accommodation is no longer fit for purpose, it’s been tagged for demolishment for the testing and training facility however we have to make a decision around not hampering our accommodation capacity as that happens.”
Mr Perkins has spoken at the Forum on two other occasions, most recently in June 2023.
Garrett Tyler-Parker, Visit Canberra
Mr Tyler-Parker spoke at a high level about the ACT visitor economy, distilling a large amount of information.
Hypergrowth post-pandemic was unsustainable, we’re now seeing things starting to normalise. There will be growth going forward but it won’t be as large as predicted. Other factors like cost of living will impact this too.
We can see here visitor numbers stabilising.
This is where we sit compared to pre-pandemic levels – ACT is one of the best recovery’s compared to 2019.
Comparing 2022 to 2023, at 109% of 2022, the ACT is growing.
The record level of visitor spend in 2019 was $2.8 billion. Every year-ending (YE) period since 2022 has been record-setting.
Here we can once again see that growth beginning to slow.
When you look at pre-recovery rates, ACT is at 135% - we have recovered to pre-covid levels and surpassed.
This is impacted by inflation, however with the savings and leave built up at the end of the pandemic and the high demand, people were willing to pay inflated prices.
Domestic overnight visitors account for two-thirds of spend. There is a huge potential market in international, with 1 in 7 dollars spent coming from international travellers, despite only making up 1 in 25 visitors.
The top 5 countries make up approx. 50% of our international visitors.
We have more Indian tourists than ever before. Chinese visitation has not recovered to forecasted levels, however the figure is steadily growing.
The pie chart shows domestic visitation. The ACT has the most diverse visitor base of all states and territories.
Note: VFR – visiting friends and relatives.
These are the top 12 activities of tourists. It’s diverse, showing the well-rounded offering of the ACT.
The age distribution is very even, with 50+ making up almost 45% of visitors. This data can be used to make evidence-based decisions.
This graph does not include school groups.
Tourism Research Australia conduct the visitor survey each year.
When they conduct the next survey, they will produce Helix personas, looking to categorise Australians across 54 mindsets. These show the attitudes, drivers and beliefs of the groups.
We see the top audiences are ‘leading lifestyles’ and ‘metrotechs’
There is further information on these groups online.
We can see the trajectory is the same – expecting growth, however the numbers based on those high post-pandemic rates have been revised.
We can see occupancy rates have stabilised, with 2024 so far seeing growth.
This shows four key peaks, aligning with school holidays and troughs which we can plan for.
Dr David Marshall, Chair of the Leaders Forum highlighted;
- Canberra Business Chamber ACT Budget Breakfast is on 26 June at QT.
- The July Advisory Forum is replaced by the VisitCBR Conference.
Next forum Friday 2 August 2024.
Speakers will include ACT Minister Chris Steel, with two other speakers to be announced.
Thanks to our partner, Hiebl Photography, for these photos of the Forum.
Cover image photo by Khiem Luu on Unsplash.