Mr MILLS - 2000-08-16
The Sydney Olympics are only 29 days away and represent an influx of potentially millions of visitors to Australia who normally would not travel to our country. What steps is the Northern Territory Tourist Commission taking to ensure that as many of these visitors as possible travel to the Territory during their stay in our country?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the tourist industry is the second-biggest industry in the Territory. It generates nearly $800m worth of wealth to Territorians and it employs one in 10 Territorians. It is a very important sector that the government focuses on on an ongoing basis.
The Olympics provide be an important opportunity for us to promote the Northern Territory, not only to international visitors to Sydney whom we hope to attract on their way home, if they have not visited on the way in, but also those people in Sydney who may want to leave for the duration of the Games because they are not interested and they see a good opportunity to get out and see another part of Australia.
The commission’s Darling Harbour holiday shop will be maximising opportunities to present holiday options in the Northern Territory to visitors. Bear in mind that Darling Harbour is the second-largest Olympic venue outside of the Homebush grounds. It will host five events and attract up to 400 000 people a day. From that point of view we are ideally situated. Last year when we opened the centre, we were criticised by a few of the other state agencies, saying: ‘What are you opening a tourism outlet down there for?’ I think they now realise why we did it.
Four additional staff will be sent to the Territory centre to cater for the anticipated increase in visitors to the holiday shop, and opening hours at Darling Harbour will be extended until 11 pm to provide access for those people who are there to enjoy the Olympic events. The shop has proved a major success. It has attracted some 250 000 people through the doors since last July and something in the order of $900 000 worth of gross revenue was generated last financial year. In relation to the cost of the centre, the benefits that are accruing to the Territory and to the Northern Territory tourism industry are very sound.
It is important that the shop is resourced and operated in a manner that allows us to capitalise on the opportunities that will be confronting us at the Olympic Games and the lead-up to them. Some 8 million people will pass through Darling Harbour during the course of the Games. The increased resources are particularly directed at maximising the Territory’s opportunities, attracting as many people here as we can, particularly given that it is our shoulder period at the end of the dry season and our main tourist season.
Those efforts at Darling Harbour will be complemented by an $870 000 campaign of media advertising and promotional activity that we will pursue in the lead-up and during the course of the Games, so that we can further build on the success of the Darling Harbour centre and maximise the opportunities for tourism operators, hotels, restaurateurs and the industry generally in the Northern Territory.
While we see the real benefits flowing from the Olympics coming to us over the next two or three years, following the amount of exposure that the Territory will get this year in the lead-up to and over the course of the Olympics, particularly with television promotions and fillers during Games broadcasts and the exposure that that will create for us on international markets, we now want to focus on the benefits that we can extract from the actual activities in Darling Harbour and Sydney generally. I know honourable members are interested in the activities that we are undertaking on behalf of the Territory tourism industry.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the tourist industry is the second-biggest industry in the Territory. It generates nearly $800m worth of wealth to Territorians and it employs one in 10 Territorians. It is a very important sector that the government focuses on on an ongoing basis.
The Olympics provide be an important opportunity for us to promote the Northern Territory, not only to international visitors to Sydney whom we hope to attract on their way home, if they have not visited on the way in, but also those people in Sydney who may want to leave for the duration of the Games because they are not interested and they see a good opportunity to get out and see another part of Australia.
The commission’s Darling Harbour holiday shop will be maximising opportunities to present holiday options in the Northern Territory to visitors. Bear in mind that Darling Harbour is the second-largest Olympic venue outside of the Homebush grounds. It will host five events and attract up to 400 000 people a day. From that point of view we are ideally situated. Last year when we opened the centre, we were criticised by a few of the other state agencies, saying: ‘What are you opening a tourism outlet down there for?’ I think they now realise why we did it.
Four additional staff will be sent to the Territory centre to cater for the anticipated increase in visitors to the holiday shop, and opening hours at Darling Harbour will be extended until 11 pm to provide access for those people who are there to enjoy the Olympic events. The shop has proved a major success. It has attracted some 250 000 people through the doors since last July and something in the order of $900 000 worth of gross revenue was generated last financial year. In relation to the cost of the centre, the benefits that are accruing to the Territory and to the Northern Territory tourism industry are very sound.
It is important that the shop is resourced and operated in a manner that allows us to capitalise on the opportunities that will be confronting us at the Olympic Games and the lead-up to them. Some 8 million people will pass through Darling Harbour during the course of the Games. The increased resources are particularly directed at maximising the Territory’s opportunities, attracting as many people here as we can, particularly given that it is our shoulder period at the end of the dry season and our main tourist season.
Those efforts at Darling Harbour will be complemented by an $870 000 campaign of media advertising and promotional activity that we will pursue in the lead-up and during the course of the Games, so that we can further build on the success of the Darling Harbour centre and maximise the opportunities for tourism operators, hotels, restaurateurs and the industry generally in the Northern Territory.
While we see the real benefits flowing from the Olympics coming to us over the next two or three years, following the amount of exposure that the Territory will get this year in the lead-up to and over the course of the Olympics, particularly with television promotions and fillers during Games broadcasts and the exposure that that will create for us on international markets, we now want to focus on the benefits that we can extract from the actual activities in Darling Harbour and Sydney generally. I know honourable members are interested in the activities that we are undertaking on behalf of the Territory tourism industry.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016