State Budget boost for Queensland tourism

Queensland’s rapidly growing tourism sector will be supported with more than $153 million in funding from the Palaszczuk Government announced in today’s State Budget.

Tourism Industry Development will receive $153.8 million in the State Budget – a boost of about $20 million from 2018.

Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said record funding has seen the state’s tourism industry grow from strength to strength under the Palaszczuk Government.

“Queensland’s tourism industry is booming,” she said.

“For the first time in a decade, our share of the visitor market is growing faster than NSW and Victoria.

“That’s because we’ve invested in tourism like no government in Queensland’s history. But we’re not taking our foot off the accelerator.

“We’re committed to attracting more tourists to support local jobs. That’s why we’ve grown the tourism budget in 2019.”

Ms Jones said the $25 billion tourism industry was the state’s third largest export earner and supported 217,000 Queensland jobs.

The Minister also announced Tourism and Events Queensland would receive an additional  $48.2 million in the 2022-23 financial year to ensure funding to secure major events for Queensland remains at $100 million per year from 2019-20 to 2022 – 23.

“We’ve more than doubled the value of Queensland’s major events calendar since 2015 – this year tipped to generate $800 million,” she said.

“This is in stark contrast to the LNP who cut $188 million from the tourism budget when Deb Frecklington and Campbell Newman were in power.”

Ms Jones said the government had a strong focus on events and infrastructure that would create jobs in Queensland.

“There’s more demand than ever before for authentic cultural experiences,” she said.

“That’s why we’ll invest $3.2 million over the next two years to create tourism jobs for Indigenous Queenslanders and position our state as the nation’s leader in Indigenous tourism.

“As part of this strategy, almost $300,000 will be used to deliver an Indigenous Tourism Development Service which will be a dedicated service for Indigenous tourism businesses to access government and industry services. 

“Around $2 million will be used to support the development of new Indigenous tourism products and experiences with a focus on ecotourism.”

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Media contact: Jack Harbour 0419 620 447