More evidence Masterpieces investment paid off for ACT

Submitted by Andrew Barr on 16 July, 2010 - 10:18

ACT accommodation businesses saw their takings increase by 12 per cent for the first three months of this year compared to the last three months of 2009, according to a recent report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The ACT’s room occupancy rate of 80.2% was also the highest of any state or territory for the March quarter 2010, up from 71.7% in the previous quarter.

This is in large part due to the Masterpieces from Paris blockbuster and Starry Nights which the ACT Labor Government supported with $500,000.

The ABS publicationTourist Accommodation, Australia shows that the ACT performed well above the national average. Total takings nationally from accommodation with 15 rooms or more were up by just 0.4 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms, and had only increased by 1.1 percent in trend terms over the same period.

The fantastic result for the ACT was further proof the ACT Labor Government’s $500,000 support for the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition and Starry Nights was a good investment.

While the Australian hotels sector spent the first three months of this year crawling out of the global financial crisis, ACT hotels were bolting out of it, mostly because Masterpieces was the biggest blockbuster exhibition Australia has ever seen.

The ACT Labor Government was pleased to invest in the exhibition, and work with the National Gallery and the Federal Labor Government to stage the event for the benefit of ACT tourism operators and the 13,000 Canberrans who work in the industry.

This latest report from the ABS comes on top of the recent National Visitor Survey results that further reinforced the tourism benefits that stemmed from Masterpieces from Paris. For the March quarter 2010, when compared to the March quarter 2009:

The ACT received 612,000 domestic overnight visitors, a 21.2 per cent increase. Nationally, domestic overnight visitation decreased by 0.5 per cent for the same period
Domestic visitor nights in the ACT increased by 32.4 per cent, up from 1.3 million to 1.7 million. This compared to a flat result nationally (down 0.1%) for the corresponding period
Average length of stay for domestic overnight visitors increased from 2.6 nights to 2.8 nights
Domestic overnight visitation to the ACT for pleasure/holiday purposes increased by 63.6 per cent.

According to a recent interim study commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia, the exhibition attracted over 470,000 visitors and injected around $95million into the ACT economy.