Having taken out third place in the Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Best in Travel 2018, our national institutions might be the ones to thank.

With exhibitions such as Cartier: The Exhibition and Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters and Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits, our national treasures are reaping benefits for the broader ACT economy. Despite the shock over Canberra’s placing, the answer might be more obvious than you think.

The capital’s steadily growing arts tourism industry and the significant national institutions spread across the region are instrumental in the city’s acclaim.

Both Canberra’s culture and economy would not be what they are today without national institutions like the National Gallery of Australia, The National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of Australia, explains ACT Minister for Art, Gordon Ramsay.

“[Art] is something that helps people reflect their character. It reflects who we are as a society. So, by having arts tourism it actually helps promote the arts themselves,” he says.

“From an economic point of view, we are very fortunate to have the national institutions here and to be able to use them. For the ACT government to be able to invest in blockbuster exhibitions it has enormous positive impact for the economy.”

The government is aware of the growing trend towards arts tourism and they are readily focusing on tactics to encourage it. In fact, it’s so important to Canberra that the ACT government has invested $3.5 million through a Special Events Fund and a partnership with the National Gallery of Australia. This investment alone saw a return of $330 million into the broader economy during 2016.

Cartier: The Exhibition is part of this push to further develop Canberra into a booming arts hub through a steadily rising arts tourism industry. Over 200,000 people are predicted to attend the show, with 80 percent of visitors coming interstate or internationally, according to Minister Ramsay.

Cartier London. Halo tiara 1934, platinum, round old- and baguette-cut diamonds, 4 cm (height). Collection Cartier © Cartier. Photo: Nils Herrmann.

He estimates that the government will see a $38 million return from the exhibition after investing up to $500, 000 in the project through the gallery.

Simeran Maxwell, the lead curator of Cartier, says that hosting the major jewellery exhibition will be a first due to Australia’s geographical position, which makes it difficult for delicate pieces to be transported to our shores.

The gallery is confident that they will be able to pull off the feat; however, there is still a large task ahead.

“A regular major exhibition might include around 150 pieces. For this show we’re dealing with over 300. They’re tiny and easy to move, but there’s still 300 of them” she says..

Cartier will exhibit pieces from all over the world, including the British royal family’s private collection. Maxwell believes that this will be one of the major selling points of the exhibition.

“Because we’re still a part of the Commonwealth, we have access to the Queen’s personal collection, including Kate Middleton’s wedding tiara. I don’t think [Cartier] have ever been able to access what’s in there. We’re really fortunate as these pieces have only ever really been seen on her and her family.”

Cartier is not the only exhibition expected to attract visitors both nationally and internationally to the territory.

Credit: The Dressmaker – Hugo Weaving as Horatio Farrat by Ben King.

The visually rich Starstruck: Australia Movie Portraits explores striking and beautiful portraiture that has emerged from 100 years of Australian movies and will be a delight for film buffs and lovers of photography alike. Spanning almost 300 photographs and items, the exhibition goes beyond photos to showcase costumes from such iconic Australian films as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.

Across the lake at the National Museum of Australia, Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters—which will run until February next year—expects to see some 90,000 people attend the exhibition.

The exhibition, initiated by Anangu elders from the APY (Anangu, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara) to preserve the ancient understanding of songlines, has been in the making since 2010 and is part of a larger program undertaken by the museum to document the significant songlines.

Senior Indigenous Curator Margo Neale says it’s fitting that the exhibition be held at the museum.

“I think there’s a symbolic significance that can’t be replaced. The fact it’s in Canberra is critical,” she explains. “People expect to come to Canberra for substantial thinking as well as visually pleasing things. Visitors expect to come for a bit of substance and learning. It’s that kind of city.”

While Songlines is different to a traditional exhibition, it is just as instrumental as Cartier in increasing visitor numbers through a unique and unprecedented exhibition, consequently boosting the broader ACT economy.

“The starting point is with the institutions we have here—they’re a great boon for us to have,” says Minister Ramsay.

“For us to have these national institutions, that’s something that we have that the other capital cities don’t. We’re very fortunate to have those.”