Tourism Australia gets holiday from Budget funding cuts

FEDERAL Tourism Minister Andrew Robb has ruled out cuts to the industry’s peak body ahead of today’s Budget.

FEDERAL Tourism Minister Andrew Robb has ruled out cuts to the industry’s peak body ahead of today’s Budget.

Speaking on the opening morning of the Australian Tourism Exchange in Cairns yesterday, Mr Robb said funding to Tourism ­Australia would actually be ­increased, not slashed, as was recommended by the Commission of Audit report this month.

Tourism funding to rise in federal budget

The report recommended halving Tourism Australia’s funding as one of many cost-saving exercises in what is ­expected to be a brutal Budget.

However, Mr Robb, the Minister for Trade and Investment, said Tourism Australia would be spared budget pain.

“We are actually increasing the budget for Tourism Australia,” he said, adding that cuts to red tape and other restrictions such as the carbon tax, would further stimulate the tourism industry.

“We want to reduce public spending by the Government and replace it with robust growth in the private sector,” he said.

“We are looking to live within our means as a government so we can generate private sector spending.”

For the current financial year, Tourism Australia has a budget of about $200 million, the majority coming from the Federal Government.

About $50 million is derived from the private sector, through sponsorships and corporate partnerships.

Mr Robb's reassurance to Tourism Australia comes as almost 2000 delegates from 36 countries assemble in Cairns for the tourism exchange, the largest industry gathering in the Southern Hemisphere.

Tourism Australia's new managing director John O'Sullivan said the organisation would continue to promote the country's tourism industry on whatever Budget outcome was handed down.

"We just have to focus on delivering outcomes and campaigns such as the Restaurant Australia campaign we are working on now," he said.

The tourism exchange, which is expected to pour $10 million in to the local economy, runs until Friday.