Canberra Region Tourism Leaders Forum Wednesday 8 November 2023

Hon Don Farrell MP Federal Minister for Trade and Tourism and Special Minister of State

• Thank you David, I'm not sure if 'Godfather is an affectionate term' (the room laughs), thank you for inviting me here this morning to speak about tourism in ACT
• I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we meet on today, and extend my respects to elders past, present and emerging. And to express my great disappointment for the referendum results.
• My father used to run for Parliament all the time, but never won. Despite that, he was an accountant, and we used to drive up from Adelaide in the school holidays. We would always call past the (Old) Parliament house and my father would say, 'Next year I'll be there!" but of course he never did.
• Canberra has many impressive sites, the War Memorial, National Library and Botanical gardens, and I'm proud the Albanese government is committed to the up keep of these important National Institutions.
• My favourite gallery, is the Portrait Gallery, it's not just the portraits I love but the stories and explanations. You get such a rich history of Australia.
• And also Questacon, a much loved family friendly place of activity, is also receiving funding under the government works.
• There is also a selection of the regional businesses, such as cellar doors, artisans and producers.
• I'm always blown away every time there is a new restaurant and bar. My favourite is OTIS, and they sell my wine there. A little plug for them.

• National data from Tourism Australia the total spend was $159 million dollars, and 111 million domestic trips. Domestic trips to the ACT is up as well as the spend.
• $2 million dollars will be provided to track tourism results.
• 1/3 of ACT visitors come for heritage activities. So the ACT is performing very well. However, we want to not just beat Covid tourism levels but thrive into the future.
• $166 billion tourism spending target by 2024 target has been met.
• From the $48 billion package of government support, ACT is a direct beneficiary of the program to attract visitors to Canberra.
• We are helping tourism visitors to get back into the international market.
• Government employment white paper outlines what we will do to address the tourism workforce.
• Fee free courses are available for tourism related studies.
• Things are looking up on the international front, international visitors are going up, and more aviation services becoming available. It is expected to be up at 99% functioning (of pre Covid levels) by next March.
• Fiji began running direct flights between Nandi and Canberra last July.
• Like many politicians I've had many good experiences in the Canberra airport and its world class facilities, and I hope many people will enjoy travelling to Canberra.
• As Minister for Tourism and Trade I will work with the industry to recover its growth. I look forward to working with you towards what I think is a very exciting future.

Question: What is the indication that the Chinese market is going to take off?

My view is we should be positive about the China market. Last year we had 1.2 million Chinese tourists coming to Australia which was $12 billion dollars worth of spending. China only recently opened its borders for international visitors. China are the 2nd most frequent travellers to Australia. After the recent stamp of approval from the Chinese government, we should see the visitation back to the normal pre-Covid numbers, and more. There is a lot of demand for our food and wine in China, and to travel in Australia. Every major Chinese airline is flying back into Australia, so long as they can access the airlines, it should go back to pre-Covid. The education too, we are now back to pre Covid levels of young students coming to Australia, and we know parents come to Australia to check up on their kids and travel. China approved Australia as a group travel vacinity, so everything is looking up. The Prime Minister and myself were mobbed at the trade fair! There is quite a lot of pent up demand. We need to ensure we have the capacity for the demand. We should be very very positive. And on top of what is happening with China we have the Indian travellers coming back.

Question: The issue with the Qatar, you mentioned some of the south east carrriers, is there any interest from them?

I'm certainly encouraging them to. You mention the elephant in the room Qatar, they could fly into Canberra any day. Last week we released our South East Asia Economic Strategy, which is all about diversifying away from China, not that we want to sell anything less to China. We want to encourage the purchase of our Australian lobster and beef. The opportunities to increase our Tourism offering is incredible in the Phillipines. The population of the Phillipines is over 113 million, they have more than doubled Australia's population in 40 years. This is a rising middle class we can attract as visitors to Australia. Same as Vietnam, who have a growing population and a goal to be a first class nation, many senior Vietnamese politicians studied in Australia and now, have children studying in Australia. And an untapped resource is Indonesia, it isn't far away, has a rising middle class, and they love Australia we just have to get more of them into the country.

Malcolm Snow CEO City Renewal Authority

• It is great to be back addressing the forum.
• The priorities are getting locals back into the city centre and bouncing back from the challenges of Covid.
• It's hard to know what the future of city centres will look like, with more people working from home. We want to know who is it coming back into the city centre and what experiences should we be offering them.
• Creating a really high quality public environment, investing in the urban quality we think is important.
• Improving movement and accessibility - not just cars - but a city that is walkable
• It's critical that we foster social. exchange, the cities need to be more sociable, how they connect with each other - tourism strategies and through events in Canberra itself.
• A more equitable city is important as well, promote a broader range of housing opportunities.
• Action Waterfront - a goal to bring the city centre to our best asset which is the water - I'm pleased to say we are close to gaining works approval for a 3 hectare park on the waterfront - consistent with the strategy from 2002 to take under utilised land and make it a new mixed use district.
• Canberra Civic and Culture District - integrated public and private investment - boosting the primacy of the City Centre - it should be the place and how to make it special - new Canberra Theatre, new retail/beverage building.
• UNSW Canberra CIty Campus - we already are a university city, this is about bringing additional teaching and research functions into the city centre where the CIT carparks are. CIT will move to Woden (artist impression of what the precinct will look like).
• City Centre upgrades - Garema place, City Walk and Streetscape upgrades. We have a way to go, we have been successful getting some funding. Improving the linkages to Braddon and rolling program for Dickson.
• Sydney and Melbourne buildings - significant heritage buildings. Next phase is facade repiars, repainting and maintanance. $4million contribution from ACT government for this work.
• City South East - under active investigation. A new arena for Canberra, new opportunities for the City Pool site, prominent site close to other important functions.
• CBD land releases - going well and recently sold block 40 section 19 to Canberra Airport Group.
• Visition highlights - 340% increase in visitation, 380,000 visitors and $20million economic benefit.

• Civic and City Centre - Christmas in the City program is ambitious, boosting the Multicultural festival again, Placemaking grants pool is larger and is a great opportunity to new businesses
• Braddon and Haig park needs attention
• Dickson Centre as an eating precinct

Question: In 5 years time will be look back and see a lot of change in the city centre?

Yes, I think we have been attracting investors into Canberra. Fund managers and developers looking for a long term place to put money.