Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I bring to the attention of the House that this week the Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson, officially opened the first ever Tourism Directions conference at Parliament House here in Canberra. The Tourism Directions conference, hosted by the minister’s department and Tourism Australia, was a notable success in bringing together more than 300 representatives of the industry to assess the current position of Australia’s $33 billion tourism industry as well as future challenges and opportunities. At this conference the first ever Australian tourism: state of the industry report, prepared by Tourism Research Australia, was released along with the latest predictions from the Tourism Forecasting Committee.

The high Australian dollar and the strength of our economy are making it attractive for Australians to holiday overseas. Australia’s governments spend almost $500 million on marketing tourism annually, and the Tourism Directions conference will become an annual event to help position the industry for long-term success. The future success of the industry is dependent on marketing and the supply-side reform that is being driven by the government’s National Long-Term Tourism Strategy.

The conference also recognised that Australia’s tourism industry is well placed to meet the needs of the growing Asian market, provided that the tourism industry can increase productivity and provide consumers with better value for money. The Chinese market alone is predicted to grow by—(Time expired)