Visitors come from all over Australia and across the seas to enjoy Floriade – and they tend to spend big when they’re here. Photos: Michelle Kroll.
Event tourism is making a significant contribution to the ACT economy with Floriade and UniSport Nationals singled out as big money spinners for the Territory.
The ACT Government also highlighted the amount international visitors to the ACT spent in the year ending 30 September, contributing to the rebound in overseas tourism since the pandemic.
The annual spring floral festival in Commonwealth Park injected $62.4 million into the economy, an increase of 22 per cent on last year.
Of this, $48.8 million came from visitors to Canberra, the highest visitor economic impact recorded in Floriade’s history.
A total of 462,322 people attended Floriade, up from 433,271 last year; visitors to Canberra made up 216,651 (46 per cent) of the total attendance.
UniSport Nationals, also in September, generated $10.4 million for the ACT with 11,603 people attending and staying in the city for an average of 5.1 nights.
The event saw more than 6000 participants from 42 universities across the country compete in 31 sports in a bid to become a national champion.
Canberra’s accommodation industry dined out on a 31 per cent increase in visitor nights with 221,866 recorded.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Floriade and other major events such as the UniSport Nationals continued to be important drivers for the visitor economy.
“Next year we look forward to more events, including the Lions Tour and Australian Masters Games, further supporting our experience industry,” he said.
The latest National Visitor Survey, ending September 2024, revealed 5.23 million visitors to the ACT generated $3.65 billion in visitor expenditure – a similar result to the same period last year, down $7 million.
While most states enjoyed a boost in overnight trips, the ACT’s were down 28,000 or three per cent.
The International Visitor Survey showed 198,000 overseas tourists spent $625 million in the year ending in September.
Mr Barr said this was the highest annual international expenditure since March 2019, up 50 per cent on the same period last year.
He said the positive result highlighted the importance of international flight connections to the ACT economy, pointing to Qatar Airways’ recent announcement that it would return to the national capital in 2025.
“International tourism to Canberra is recovering after a difficult few years,” he said.
“The result also shows the decision by Qatar to resume daily flights to Canberra will help boost the local economy, providing tourism, trade, investment and a range of business opportunities when flights start back up.
“It will also make an important contribution towards the ACT Government’s goal of growing our tourism economy to $5 billion in visitor expenditure by 2030.”
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