Whitsundays receives $57,000 tourism grant

_{08 January, 2010}

Sign Up for free e-mail updates!

Tourism Whitsundays will receive a special funding grant of $57,000 to encourage more flights to the region and further develop the region as a regional events hub, Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor announced today.

Mr Lawlor said the grant, part of $1 million in Queensland Government funding allocated to the state’s 14 regional tourism organisations, would allow Tourism Whitsundays to enhance the region’s tourism credentials and entice higher visitor numbers.

“These funds will allow Tourism Whitsundays to better engage with airlines and encourage the region to further develop its events calendar,” Mr Lawlor said.

Member for Whitsunday Jan Jarratt welcomed the news and the benefits the funding will have on local tourism.

“The Whitsundays already has fantastic tourism product but air access is crucial for the region,” Ms Jarratt said.

“Likewise the Whitsundays has one of the best regional events calendars in the State but there is opportunity to further grow this area.

“Both government and industry need to continue to raise the bar by looking for new opportunities, new markets and better ways of doing things.”

Mr Lawlor said in the year to September 2009, 223,000 international and 416,000 overnight domestic visitors spent time in the Whitsundays.

“Of these, 216,000 international and 288,000 domestic overnight visitors came specifically on holiday, making tourism a key economic driver for the region,” he said.

“The $1 million in grant funding is a State Government commitment to fund tourism development initiatives regional tourism organisations would otherwise be unable to undertake.

“Regional tourism organisations across the state will use their allocations for a range of projects from new product feasibility studies to industry education programs.”

Mr Lawlor said the funding was part of the State Government’s Queensland Tourism Strategy commitment to an additional $4 million in funding over four years for regional tourism organisations.

“Competition for the tourist dollar is increasingly fierce and it’s important for destinations to constantly look at ways to improve their visitor experience – be it investigating new product opportunities, increasing customer service levels or providing business advice and support to operators,” he said.

“I was pleased to see so many high-quality submissions and look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition.”

Further information:

Tourism Queensland –ph 3535 5010

More Media Releases