State’s tourism industry gives tick of approval to Federal Budget

THE Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania has welcomed last night’s Federal Budget, describing it as a new opportunity for the state.

THE Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania has welcomed last night’s Federal Budget, describing the economic blueprint as a new opportunity for the state.

TICT chief Luke Martin said the Abbott Government’s first Budget delivered on all its pre-election commitments to the industry.

“The expansion of the Hobart International Airport’s runway is a cross-generational infrastructure investment in Tasmania that not only opens our tourism industry to new market opportunities in Asia, but also supports further growth in our important Antarctic research and education sectors, that also has flow on benefits to our tourism and hospitality sectors,” Mr Martin said.

“The contribution towards the development of a new visitor experience at Cadbury’s promises to deliver another world-class visitor experience in Hobart that will likely join MONA and Port Arthur as one of Tasmania’s most popular visitor attractions, generating new jobs right across the local economy.

“It’s important to remember both these exciting new investments for Tasmania would be highly unlikely to occur without a public funding contribution and are both expected to stimulate direct private investment and new jobs.”

Mr Martin also backed confirmation of $4.5 million in funding to stimulate new tourism experiences in regional areas of Tasmania.

“Tourism has proven time and again its capacity to generate new economic opportunities in regional Tasmania, and TICT has lobbied hard for this funding over the past three years as a strategic economic diversification initiative,” he said.

“In the scheme of things $4.5 million is not a huge amount of money, but if it’s distributed to leverage investment from the private sector and possibly local government, it could deliver a welcome injection of new visitor experiences and attractions across regional Tasmania where they are most needed.

“The funding, for example, could leverage investment in new camping facilities on the East Coast, interpretation signage in the Tarkine, or upgraded visitor facilities in some of our national parks and reserves.”