6 August 2019

Hitting the Road: ensuring regions share in the benefits of tourism

The Morrison Government is backing our tourism sector to grow even stronger and is taking action to ensure that our regions share in the benefits that this will bring.

Tourism improves the lives of Australians – it brings economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits. Every year, tourism is attracting $143 billion in spending and one in 13 people are employed in tourism related industries.

 

We want every region to share in these benefits and that’s why, as the new Assistant Minister for Regional Tourism, I will be hitting the road to hear first-hand about the opportunities and challenges facing regional tourism.

This is an important step in the ongoing work that Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham and the industry are already undertaking to develop our Beyond Tourism 2020 strategy, and it goes without saying that regional tourism will be a key element of the Beyond Tourism 2020 plan.

We understand that growth in regional tourism must enhance our regions and be done in a way that our regions want, that is why hearing from those on the front-line is so important.

That work starts right here in Tasmania, because there is no better place to begin than here – where tourism has been an Australian success story.

Later this month, I will be heading to Queensland, South Australia and Victoria before continuing around the country where I will meet with operators, regional tourism authorities, industry councils, state governments and other stakeholders.

Our Government is focused on ensuring that every region shares in the benefits of tourism, because a strong tourism industry means jobs, a stronger economy, greater investment and better infrastructure.