National Convention Centre, Canberra
Thank you for the invitation to open this symposium and celebrate a project that will pay dividends for the ACT’s tourism industry for years to come.
You are here to “create, inspire, lead”.
You represent businesses and organisations who want to learn, share and be motivated.
The challenges of strategic selling and social media marketing are just two of the topics up for discussion.
For more than 20 years, the Association has been helping the ACT tourism industry.
By inspiring each other, you build a stronger industry with dedicated staff and innovative ways of doing business.
The Australian War Memorial is a stand-out attraction as an Australian Tourism Award Hall of Fame inductee, and I’m pleased that a further $8 million in Australian Government funding will support its work.
Skills Development Program
Skills are integral to the success of any industry.
They’re especially vital in one – such as tourism – where quality staff are hard to come by in some places.
The Australian Government is keenly aware of what’s at stake – both for jobs and business growth.
The Labour and Skills Working Group, for example, came out of the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy.
The Group’s work includes pinpointing Australia’s labour and skills “hot spots”, so that ministers can work across portfolios to help willing workers find able employers.
If attracting and retaining staff is one of the biggest challenges facing this industry, the project we celebrate today goes to the heart of the challenge.
The Tourism Operators Skills Development Program includes a number of good ideas.
The Industry ACTion Kit helps people to get started in the local tourism industry.
It outlines the industry sectors, and offers advice on the best people to contact.
There are tips on how to start a tourism business, and how to keep a successful one going.
Tourism, after all, is a journey in more ways than one.
And this online and hardcopy kit will guide businesses along the way.
The Tourism Connect website will be a meeting place for Canberra’s tourism industry.
It’s designed by – and for – the people who work in it.
The website is a one-stop-shop for information on events, training and promotional activities.
For example, event organisers can use it to avoid scheduling clashes.
And there is a classified section for partnership opportunities or staff development.
Businesses will also get a suite of training workshops – some have already been held earlier this month.
These focus on product development, partnerships and marketing.
They also cover customer service through the existing Aussie Host training program.
The Australian Government contributed $110,000 to this project through the TQUAL Grants program.
The funding has gone towards engaging consultants, producing the Industry ACTion kits, workshop delivery and website development among others.
It’s just one of many projects across Australia that we’re supporting through TQUAL Grants.
Three of the projects are on the ACT’s doorstep – the epicurean centre at Capital Wines, new guesthouses at Gooromon Park and the study into a tramway at Yass.
TQUAL Grants also supports a nationwide project to tackle the shortage of skilled workers in tourism and hospitality.
The Discover Tourism careers portal has information on training opportunities and the qualifications people need.
The portal describes the different kinds of jobs available, and where they are.
There is also a CD ROM – a useful interactive resource for schools, employment agencies and tourism bodies.
To date, the Australian Government has invested over $8 million in TQUAL Grants.
That financial support across Australia is bolstered by a further $40 million announced at last year’s election.
Tourism jobs in the ACT
Tourism is big business in the Canberra region.
Around 6,000 businesses in the ACT are tourism-related, with nearly half of them employing fewer than 20 people.
Last financial year, visitors to the national capital spent $1.5 billion.
3.8 million visitors came to the ACT during that time, and stayed more than eight million nights here.
The performance of domestic tourism in the ACT has been very encouraging.
In the year ending December 2010, overnight trips to the ACT from around Australia were up by nearly one-fifth.
There were just over two million overnight trips.
Between them, domestic visitors to the ACT spent just over $1 billion.
That figure was up by nearly 40 per cent.
And having some of Oprah’s guests – not to mention the lunch they enjoyed at the American embassy – has been icing on the cake.
With the 2013 events getting closer, there is no better time to work on network development and ongoing training.
The effects will last well beyond the Centenary of Canberra.
So I applaud the National Capital Attractions Association for its vision.
And I applaud the hard work of the Tourism Industry Council (ACT and Region) and the National Capital Education Tourism Project.
Conclusion
Finally, let me add my own welcome to the Tourism Connect symposium.
This symposium highlights the importance of tourism to the ACT and region.
It aims to inspire the industry to take pride in the role you play in promoting Canberra as our national capital.
The ideas that come from events like these improve the foundations of an industry that so many Australian livelihoods rely on.
Thank you