Mr BONSON - 2003-08-12
There is no doubt that the Darwin City Council waterfront, and the construction of the convention and exhibition centre in particular, will provide significant tourism opportunities and benefits in the city and the Top End. Can the Chief Minister please advise the Assembly of the likely impact on the tourism sector of this $600m project?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the impact of building a convention and exhibition centre for our tourism industry will be significant. The last two years have been very hard for our tourism sector, there is no doubt about that. When you look at the hit in the last two years on our tourism sector compared with any other state, where 25% of the tourists are international; for the Territory, 50% are international. There is no denying some of the factors that have hit us have been very hard for our tourism industry. However, if you look at the success of the Alice Springs Convention Centre - and congratulations to all those involved - then the benefits that will come from a convention and exhibition centre in Darwin are going to be very substantial. As I said before, it will create hundreds of jobs in its construction. The estimate from increase in tourism expenditure for the next 20 years, over and above what we have now, will be $193m - a significant increase in the tourism spend.
Darwin misses out on many meetings, conventions and exhibitions because we do not have a large enough facility in the CBD. The benefits from having such a convention and exhibition centre are measurable in their flow-on to hotels, restaurants, tourism operators, retailers and a whole range of businesses. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report into the convention centre estimated it would provide 68 new events that would otherwise not have been held in the Territory, and that generates 39 083 new delegate days. Based on our Tourist Commission estimates, average delegate expenditure per person per day is $250, which means an extra $10m per year into the Territory economy from building the convention centre and having those 68 additional events that we cannot currently hold.
The Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre expects to create 161 full-time equivalent tourism jobs for Territorians by year four, growing to over 200 new full-time equivalent jobs by year 10. Importantly, for the tourism sector, the convention sector will increase visitation to Darwin at times when it is the low season, particularly during the Wet. It will actually expand the economic activity over a much longer period, and that will be great for retailers, accommodation providers and tour companies.
Additionally, it will be a catalyst for what we need here, which is greater airline capacity into Darwin, not just domestically - currently, that is doing pretty well - but importantly, internationally. Therefore, in terms of what building a convention and exhibition centre will do for tourism, it is going to be significant and, again, a very important part of this project.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the impact of building a convention and exhibition centre for our tourism industry will be significant. The last two years have been very hard for our tourism sector, there is no doubt about that. When you look at the hit in the last two years on our tourism sector compared with any other state, where 25% of the tourists are international; for the Territory, 50% are international. There is no denying some of the factors that have hit us have been very hard for our tourism industry. However, if you look at the success of the Alice Springs Convention Centre - and congratulations to all those involved - then the benefits that will come from a convention and exhibition centre in Darwin are going to be very substantial. As I said before, it will create hundreds of jobs in its construction. The estimate from increase in tourism expenditure for the next 20 years, over and above what we have now, will be $193m - a significant increase in the tourism spend.
Darwin misses out on many meetings, conventions and exhibitions because we do not have a large enough facility in the CBD. The benefits from having such a convention and exhibition centre are measurable in their flow-on to hotels, restaurants, tourism operators, retailers and a whole range of businesses. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report into the convention centre estimated it would provide 68 new events that would otherwise not have been held in the Territory, and that generates 39 083 new delegate days. Based on our Tourist Commission estimates, average delegate expenditure per person per day is $250, which means an extra $10m per year into the Territory economy from building the convention centre and having those 68 additional events that we cannot currently hold.
The Darwin Convention and Exhibition Centre expects to create 161 full-time equivalent tourism jobs for Territorians by year four, growing to over 200 new full-time equivalent jobs by year 10. Importantly, for the tourism sector, the convention sector will increase visitation to Darwin at times when it is the low season, particularly during the Wet. It will actually expand the economic activity over a much longer period, and that will be great for retailers, accommodation providers and tour companies.
Additionally, it will be a catalyst for what we need here, which is greater airline capacity into Darwin, not just domestically - currently, that is doing pretty well - but importantly, internationally. Therefore, in terms of what building a convention and exhibition centre will do for tourism, it is going to be significant and, again, a very important part of this project.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016