Tourism funds put on hold

THE state and federal government have both been forced to make major alterations to their plan to fund a boost in domestic tourism.

On January 19, the federal government announced it would spend $76 million to revive the country’s tourism in the wake of the bushfires and China’s ban on travel. This package included a $20 million “Holiday Here This Year” campaign for domestic locations such as the Great Ocean Road.

Exactly a month later, the Victorian government announced they would put $5 million towards marketing tourism in the state.

However, the spread of coronavirus curtailed the usage of these funds, with all non-essential travel being prohibited in Victoria by the end of March.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said the funds the federal government promised would still be used at a more appropriate time.

“When the timing is right, the government will press ahead with its $76 million tourism recovery package, because we know that tourism businesses in bushfire-affected regions, along with other regions which suffered indirect impacts, need this additional support.

“During the pandemic, it would be counter-productive to invest in tourism promotion and other related activities but we will be doing everything possible to get visitors flowing to our key tourism regions again once we get through this pandemic.”

Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism (GORRT) general manager Liz Price said the different tiers of government would need to reconsider their strategies for improving tourism when travel regulations eased.

“We’re currently in a holding pattern from a marketing perspective because people can’t travel with that bans that are in place.

“It’s going to be a very different visitor economy when we come out the other side.

“We will need to find out what the best strategy is and how we pivot with the market.”

Ms Price said that amid the tribulations the tourism industry was facing, there were some reasons for optimism.

“You look at last year, there were 7.2 million trips by Australians overseas. Maybe there is some hope we will have a new market that can’t travel overseas but will want to travel around Victoria and around Australia.

“If there is a silver lining, it is that they (the state government) have recognised how important the visitor economy is and it’s one of the sectors that has been hit the hardest.”