Tourism Tropical North Queensland gets major Cairns council funding to help coronavirus recovery
Snagging the attention of travellers who would usually head overseas will become easier for the Far North after the first long-term agreement between TTNQ and the council was locked in.
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THE first-ever long-term agreement between the Far North’s peak tourism body and Cairns Regional Council is set to help fight the devastating impact of the coronavirus on the region’s biggest industry.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland will receive $16.5m from the council during the next five years, with $2.9m in 2020-21 then $3.4m for each of the following years.
Announcing the news on Thursday, TTNQ CEO Mark Olsen said the firm was “absolutely thrilled” as the funding gave “certainty to build long-term trade and market relationships to pivot our marketing effort stronger into the domestic market”.
“Eighty per cent of TTNQ’s money is focused on the domestic market for the next two years,” he said.
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“We know Australians spend more than $50b a year travelling overseas and we want to see the lion’s share of that landing here in Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.”
Mr Olsen said they were working towards the state border reopening about Christmas.
In the 2018-19 financial year, tourism contributed about $1.1b (13.5 per cent) to the Cairns LGA’s economy and supported an estimated 12,286 jobs, representing 14.9 per cent of the total Cairns workforce.
The funding means a 15 per cent increase year-on-year in core funding, as well as additional council support for events, industry development and aviation.
Passions of Paradise managing director Alan Wallish welcomed the news.
“The big thing is that it gives us independence because a lot of our marketing depends on southeast Queensland,” he said.
“It recognises the need to keep investing in tourism because it’s the primary industry here.
“I congratulate the council for their foresight.”
Mr Wallish said the flow-on benefits to jobs and employment were also important.
“This funding would help keep the industry healthy and ready to rock and roll once we’re fully reopened,” he said.
Mayor Bob Manning said the latest funding was the “most significant” to date.
“We need to stop talking about that now and talk about the future and where we’re going,” he said.
The joint initiative comes after TTNQ, Advance Cairns and the commerce chamber last week penned an open letter to the Queensland government for at least $1.23b across six key projects to help the region recover.
Originally published as Tourism Tropical North Queensland gets major Cairns council funding to help coronavirus recovery