ACT Government: Booming tourism sector creating jobs and boosting economy

ACT Government stated (04-Apr-2018) one in seven new jobs created in the ACT is in the tourism sector and tourism employment growth has outpaced overall employment growth, according to Tourism Research Australia data. ACT noted that "unprecedented growth in our tourism industry", adding that the government has worked with industry to help diversify its economy away from reliance on the federal public service and to create jobs in new industries. The ACT Tourism Satellite Account shows of the 217,000 jobs in the ACT for 2016/2017, tourism generated 16,800 jobs, an estimated 1100 more than the previous financial year. This represents a 7.1% increase for tourism growth when compared to the 3.1% general ACT employment growth. Tourism's contribution to the ACT's gross state product (GSP) increased 9.5% between 2015/2016 and 2016/2017, the second highest nationally behind Tasmania and ahead of the national average of 5.6%. [more - original PR]