Hartsuyker welcomes Coalition’s $62 million tourism boost

August 2, 2010

Today’s commitment by the Coalition to inject a further $62m into Australia’s tourism sector has been welcomed by The Nationals’ Federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker.

“Tourism in regional Australia provides a significant income boost to our local communities and we must create opportunities for tourism to flourish in these areas,” Mr Hartsuyker said.

“Tourism employs close to 500,000 Australians and produces $24bn in export earnings. It contributes $92bn to our national economic activity. The Coalition is committed to supporting our industry, and to undo the damage Labor has inflicted upon our tourism operators through increased taxes, business costs and the abolition of tourism infrastructure programs

“The funding package includes $14m to provide Regional Tourism Organisations with grants of up to $100,000 per year to promote local tourism to the domestic market. It will also provide $40m toward a Tourism Infrastructure and Development Fund to support projects that help to drive the development of local tourism projects. Applications will be assessed for their potential to contribute to tourism employment and growth.”

Tourism Research Australia will also be provided with $8m to identify emerging trends and gaps in the market, making our industry more sustainable.

Today’s announcement comes on top of a recent Coalition initiative aimed at attracting attract more business events tourism to Australia. This brings our total commitment to the tourism industry to $90m.

“The more tourists we can attract to our local areas, either through private tourism or business events such as conferences, the greater the economic and job prospects for our towns. It’s pretty simple, more local tourism equals more local jobs, and that’s got to be good for Cowper,” Mr Hartsuyker said.