Released 04/12/2022
The ACT Government’s T2030: ACT Tourism Strategy 2023-2030, sets the foundation to significantly grow Canberra’s visitor economy.
The launch of the long-term tourism strategy comes as the ACT economy continues to rebound from the impacts of the pandemic.
Visitors to our city have increased in recent months, hotel occupancy is strong and the number of domestic overnight visitors, and their expenditure, is higher than it was during the equivalent period in 2019. Our visitor economy is diverse, and year-round, with people travelling to Canberra for leisure, to visit friends and relatives, do business and study.
Our tourism sector contributes not only to our city’s economic growth and job creation, but to the wellbeing of our community as well. T2030 sets out our economic objectives to sustainably grow the value of our visitor economy to $3.1 billion by 2025, and $4 billion by 2030; this includes both overnight and day trip expenditure from visitors.
It is also expected we will return to our pre pandemic level of $2.5 billion in overnight visitor expenditure billion by 2026.
The strategy will focus on increasing employment in the tourism industry from 18,500 to 22,750. It also identifies ways to directly connect Canberra to more cities domestically, and internationally, by air.
To achieve these objectives, T2030 focuses on four missions that will guide programs, investment and effort:
- To develop our city as a global destination. To do this we will build on Canberra and the region’s unique advantages and grow our international profile and visitation
- Promote Canberra’s destination strengths and celebrate our distinct character. We will embrace the destination’s owned strengths to create new opportunities and promote the city to our priority markets
- Contribute to the wellbeing of our community. Tourism will make a positive contribution to all those that call Canberra home
- Develop iconic destination experiences. Together, we will aim to provide experiences that bring our iconic offerings to life and exceed visitor expectations
We will release a series of action plans that will underpin the strategy to realise the ambition in each of the missions. The first action plan will be released in early 2023.
We want visitors to our city to leave with a greater appreciation for Canberra and to feel fulfilled, educated and wanting to tell others about the quality of the diverse experiences on offer.
We also want visitors to think about our city and region as a great place to live, study, work and invest, with a reputation as progressive, inclusive and welcoming to all.
The ACT Government will continue to work with our local tourism industry to create the right settings to enable sustainable growth and address challenges facing the tourism sector such as the attraction and retention of skilled staff.
Find out more about T2030: ACT Tourism Strategy 2023-2030.
- Statement ends -
Andrew Barr, MLA | Media Releases