AUSTRALIA: ACT Economy Records Solid Growth

The ACT's economy bucked a national trend to record solid growth in the first three months of the year, while a surge in international visitors has helped break spending records.

Two sets of recent data released on Wednesday painted a positive outlook for the ACT economy that will be welcome news to the government ahead of next week's budget.

The territory's final demand, an indicator of growth that measures the total value of goods or services sold, rose by 1.3 per cent in the March quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

That was the best result of any state or territory, and well above the national average of 0.1 per cent.

It continued a solid run of economic growth in the past six quarters, save the September 2015 quarter, when the ACT's state final demand fell by 1.5 per cent.

University of Canberra economist Professor Phil Lewis said the growth was not huge by historical standards, but was still good news for the ACT economy.

Professor Lewis said public service employment, so often the major driver for the ACT economy, was likely behind the figure.

"We've had some recovery in employment in the public service from that severe cut they had some time ago," he said.

"Consumer spending seems to be holding up pretty well in the ACT, and, of course, dwelling construction is quite high."

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the figures confirmed the ACT was rebounding strongly after harsh cuts to the federal public service.

The figures, he said, followed strong growth in total exports, which increased by 16.2 per cent last financial year.

"This is further evidence the ACT economy is growing, and growing strongly," he said.

"The ACT Government's strategy to support our economy and support jobs during the Commonwealth's deep cuts to spending and employment has worked."

Meanwhile, separate data released on Wednesday showed a growing number of international visitors were coming to the territory, and were spending more and staying longer.

The data was provided in the latest report by Tourism Research Australia, part of Austrade, which surveys 40,000 short-term international travellers aged 15 years and over.

The growth in visitors, expenditure, and length of stay in the year to March outpaced the national averages, significantly in some areas, and saw the ACT broke a number of its international tourism records.

The number of visitors in the year increased from 177,000 to 200,000, a growth of 13 per cent.

That was the equal highest percentage increase in the country, alongside Victoria, and the ACT government says it represents a record number of total visitors to the territory.

Despite that, the ACT still had the lowest number of international visitors of any state or territory, roughly 16,000 behind Tasmania.

But the total number of nights stayed in the territory grew the most of any jurisdiction in the country.

Visitors spent a total of 5,145 nights in the ACT, an 18 per cent increase on the previous year, and now more than both the Northern Territory and Tasmania.

Visitor expenditure grew by 14 per cent to $409 million, the first time the ACT has broken the $400 million mark, and tourists were staying longer, with the average length of stay growing by 4.5 per cent.

International flights, due to start in September, are expected to bring significantly higher numbers of tourists to the ACT.

The ACT government has set itself a goal of growing the visitor economy to $2.5 billion by 2020.

Mr Barr welcomed the data, saying he expected to see further growth when Singapore Airlines begins direct international flights.

"These are fantastic results, which reflect my government'™s efforts to attract more international visitors through VisitCanberra's One Good Thing After Another marketing positioning and our lead up to international flights commencing later this year," he said.