Released 11/09/2017
Attracting new major events and enhancing existing events to contribute to the ACT’s economy and social fabric underpin the 2025 Major Events Strategy for the ACT, released today.
The Strategy aims to reinvigorate our anchor festivals, Floriade and Enlighten, but also help to acquire new major events, enter into long term partnerships with cultural institutions and private promoters for more, bigger and better events.
Better events will deliver positive outcomes for Canberra – more visitors will boost our economy and creating lasting benefits to the ACT. The Strategy recognises the importance of major events in drawing tourists to Canberra and the role that can play in making our city an even better place to live, work and visit.
The Strategy outlines the ACT Government’s vision to elevate Canberra as an events destination and have our events better reflect the city’s essence and personality. Initiated by VisitCanberra and in line with the ACT’s Tourism 2020 Strategy, the 2025 Major Events Strategy for the ACT is a blueprint for the future.
The 2025 Major Events Strategy for the ACT:
- outlines the plan for making Canberra an event-friendly destination,
- defines major events by distinguishing between regular anchor events (e.g. Floriade and Enlighten) and one-off feature events (e.g. ICC Cricket World Cup and AFC Asian Cup),
- looks at practical ways to support event organisers; and
- identifies how events will be consistently reviewed and their success measured.
Canberra’s Centenary year celebrations helped us recognise what’s special about our city and provides us with the opportunity to position Canberra into the future. Importantly, community sentiment for major events in the ACT is strong. The Repucom Community Impact Tracker (2015) study into public support for events shows 93 per cent of Canberrans believe it is important for the ACT to host major sporting, arts, culture and community events, and 85 per cent of Canberrans believe major events make the ACT a more enjoyable place to live. Major events help to enhance community spirit, pride and enjoyment and 80 per cent of Canberrans believe that that using taxpayer money to stage events in the ACT is reasonable.
Major events funded by the ACT Government’s Special Event Fund (SEF) have consistently provided a significant return on investment to the ACT economy. The Special Event Fund, which has been replaced by the new Major Event Fund, provided $5.809 million in funding for 21 completed exhibitions and events, attracting in excess of 2.956 million attendees and delivering approximately $636 million in economic return to the ACT between 2011 and 2017.
The visitor economy is a key economic driver for the Canberra region, currently contributing around $2.06 billion to the ACT economy and supporting around 16,000 jobs.
- Statement ends -
Andrew Barr, MLA | Media Releases
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