Canberra Business Council chief executive Chris Faulks says the ACT does not need another "Feel the Power" campaign - the controversial 1998 marketing offensive that made locals fearful of taking their cars across the border.
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But she has backed up comments made by Labor warrior Anthony Albanese on Wednesday when the Marrickville brawler said the federal government should be footing the bill for advertising the national capital to Australians.
Ms Faulks went a step further and said the federal government should be promoting Canberra to international visitors as well.
While she agreed with Mr Albanese that Canberra should be at least partly promoted as "the place where decisions are made", the business lobbyist made it clear she believed marketing of the territory should in no way go back to the future to emulate the Feel the Power campaign.
"It was not regarded as a successful campaign," she said.
Feel the Power TV ads interspersed historical political scenes and shots of important Canberra buildings to the backdrop of a stirring drum beat.
But things went wrong when "Feel the Power of Canberra" was put on number plates.
As The Canberra Times' Crispin Hull wrote at the time: "The Nation's Capital slogan was popular. In the case of Feel the Power, however, 70 per cent rejected the slogan, preferring nothing instead. They thought it arrogant. They feared what other Australians would think if they took their cars interstate. Only 30 per cent were prepared to take the slogan."
Visit Canberra's recent Human Brochure strategy was aimed at an audience interested in visitors coming to the capital to eat, drink and find outdoor adventures and then share their experiences on social media.
Ms Faulks said Visit Canberra, funded by the ACT Government, had been doing as much as it could but the Commonwealth should be funding the National Capital Authority to run campaigns about the territory being the centre of governance.
"It's not the responsibility of 390,000 Canberrans to promote the national capital of Australia," she said, adding the federal government should also fund a new convention centre which would triple business visitor numbers.
She said Trade Minister Andrew Robb should help in another way, not with money, but by sending a letter to his Singaporean counterpart to encourage international flights to Canberra.
On Wednesday Mr Albanese told the tourism sector to lobby the federal government much harder.
He said Tourism Research Australia figures showed domestic visits to Canberra in the year to March dropped 2.8 per cent, expenditure was down 8.2 per cent and visitor nights were down 17.1 per cent.
In the year to June 2014, international visitor numbers to Canberra were up 2 per cent, but visitor nights were down 12 per cent and total trip expenditure had dropped 6 per cent.
Australian Hotels Association (AHA) ACT general manager Brad Watts said these figures, along with a drop in overnight business travel, were alarming for the local hospitality and hotel industry which was under pressure and he called for the territory government to spend more money on marketing.
"Hotel occupancy and visitation has been affected by the ongoing efficiency dividend applied by the federal government on the public service and a decline in corporate and government airline travel – there has also been no major tourism events in the ACT since earlier this year," he said.
