Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I want to talk about my support for the tourism industry. Mr. Speaker, the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories is by far the largest renewable resource that we have going on up here. Mr. Speaker, tourists bring new dollars to the Northwest Territories that employ our good people. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories is full of a vast array of natural, unique features and cultural attractions that truly draw people from around the world. Unfortunately, the tourism industry is very competitive and we have a lot of people working very hard to steal those potential tourists away from us.
Mr. Speaker, $44 million in 2002 was the amount of tourism industry dollars being spent in the Northwest Territories last year. The tourism season is year round. We have winter and spring aurora viewing for tourists to come here from as far away as Japan, and we have rubber tire traffic that rolls up in summertime for fishing, hunting and viewing our natural landscapes.
Mr. Speaker, I'm concerned that we have the world knocking on our door and, unfortunately, we've rolled up the welcome mat when it comes to our investment in the participation at the Japanese Expo this year. Mr. Speaker, over the last 10 years, our Japanese tourists coming to view one item, the aurora, have spent so much money and it's grown substantially, we are saying no to them with a meagre investment in the upcoming Expo.
Mr. Speaker, we've spent millions as a government in Spain, but where are the Spanish tourists? They're not coming. We have Japanese tourists coming every day all winter long and they're coming in huge numbers, so where is our return on their investment? Mr. Speaker, last year the Japanese spent $16 million in the Northwest Territories, and there are countless government documents that cite that. Where is our commitment?
This raises two questions and two problems at this time. What are we doing to compete when we have Fairbanks, Alaska, offering direct flights; we have the Yukon saying they can offer just as good a product, as well as Norway and who knows where else demanding for these tourists to go there. Mr. Speaker, the second problem that arises is where is our true commitment to the people that come from Japan to see our aurora.
Mr. Speaker, later today I will have appropriate questions at the appropriate time for the Minister in charge of this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause