Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my pleasure to officially open the International Cricket Hall of Fame.
It’s fitting that it resides here in Bowral, the home of the greatest ever batsman and Australia’s most prominent sporting hero – Sir Donald Bradman.
I congratulate the Bradman Foundation for their vision and commitment in making this ambitious project a reality.
For years the devoted volunteers have been working to preserve the legacy of Sir Donald.
Grassroots community action is a driving force for innovation in our tourism industry – and look what you’ve all achieved.
The Australian Government was happy to contribute six and a half million dollars towards construction, to commemorate the centenary of Sir Donald’s birth.
We were also happy to pitch in $20,000 towards the $40,000 for the development of a strategy and action plan to maximise visitor numbers to the Hall of Fame.
I hope to see great numbers of visitors through the doors as the Hall of Fame fulfils its great potential to become one of Australia’s leading tourism attractions.
Attractions like this do two specific things for Australian tourism:
First, they raise our profile among lovers of special interests – in this case cricket.
They may come for the cricket, but they’ll stay longer and spend more when they see what else is on offer.
And second, they draw people away from the metropolitan centres – in this case to the beautiful Southern Highlands.
After all, dispersing visitors is a good thing in itself.
And the economic vibrancy of the Southern Highlands will absorb the benefits of attractions like this for many years.
The bigger picture
Tourism is big business.
The industry contributes $33 billion to our economy each year and provides jobs for half a million Australians.
In New South Wales, over 160,000 people work in the industry which generates almost $14 billion for the state economy.
Just recently, ABS figures showed rapid growth in Asia has fuelled an almost 10 per cent increase in international visitors for the September quarter.
That’s in spite of the challenging conditions posed by the high Australian dollar.
The Japan market has bounced back, and our source markets in Asia are on the rise.
An important part of Australia’s success is our proactive approach to marketing Australia internationally.
But we’re also ensuring we renew our attractions to present a more compelling experience for tourists in Australia.
To get the best results for tourism you need to invest in the service and experience as well as marketing.
People know what they want, and they know value for money, so we have set the bar high for Australian tourism.
That’s why the Australian Government is working with industry to build a nationally-consistent accreditation framework.
This will allow existing accreditation programs, which are assessed to have met prescribed quality criteria, to come together under one umbrella and have access to the “TQUAL mark”, a single recognisable mark of quality.
Having all these programs under one framework will help us effectively market the brand.
Through our partnership with Tourism Australia, it will give participating businesses greater exposure to consumers, both at home and overseas.
Our goal is for the TQUAL mark to influence the decisions of consumers about where they stay and what they do.
It will come to represent sustainable and capable businesses that deliver quality customer experiences.
It will help to steer our consumers towards the products and attractions that deliver on the quality promise.
Ultimately, it will enhance our reputation as a quality destination and drive grassroots improvement in the industry.
We are also investing in innovative new projects throughout Australia with our TQUAL Grants program.
Recognising that affordable credit dried up in the financial crisis, we committed over $8 million to keep innovative tourism projects on track.
By providing this funding we ensured tourism operators and communities were able to invest for the future.
So far, we’ve funded 70 projects throughout Australia, and committed a further $40 million over the next four years.
With consumer confidence returning and global travel expected to grow, Australia is well-placed to make the most of the upturn in global visitor numbers.
Our decisive action with the stimulus and success in negotiating the global financial crisis has put our tourism industry in a strong competitive position.
So now is the perfect opportunity to showcase Australia to the world, to attract a steady stream of new customers.
In the past few months we have seen the continued success of our new $150 million campaign There’s Nothing Like Australia.
It’s been well-received by both the public and industry.
To date, 47 industry partners have come on board to share the benefits of the campaign’s continued success.
We’ve also managed to stun our competitors by encouraging the world’s most powerful entertainer Oprah Winfrey to bring her show down under.
Each week an audience of over 40 million tunes in across 145 countries.
We expect this to boost international visitors – a great result for the industry.
Conclusion
Attractions like the International Cricket Hall of Fame play an important role within our tourism industry.
They build on the range of experiences we can offer an increasingly discerning and informed global consumer.
The Australian Government has committed to investing in the products and attractions which will define our tourism industry.
And when combined with our significant investments in marketing we have a powerful story to tell the world.
So it gives me great pride to officially open the world’s first International Cricket Hall of Fame.
Thank you