Published Thursday, 04 December, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
The Honourable Desley Boyle
Bundaberg Region Tourism receives $45,400 State Government Christmas present
Bundaberg Region Tourism will receive a special funding grant of $45,400 to develop an ’Industry Readiness’ program for tourism operators focusing on customer service, product development and environmental management, Tourism Minister Desley Boyle announced today.
The grant, part of $1 million in State Government funding allocated to the state’s 14 regional tourism organisations, will be used to develop training workshops to help operators improve their customer service standards, become more environmentally sustainable and look at opportunities to develop new products, and their packaging and distribution.
“These funds will allow Bundaberg Region Tourism to help local tourism operators improve the way they do business,” Ms Boyle said.
“Bundaberg already has some fantastic tourism product but both government and industry need to continue to raise the bar by looking for new opportunities and better ways of doing things.”
Ms Boyle said in the year to June 30 2008, 41,000 international and 593,000 domestic visitors spent time in the Bundaberg region.
Of these, 222,000 domestic visitors came specifically on holiday, an increase of 14 percent on the year before.
“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.”
Ms Boyle 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,” she said.
“I was pleased to see so many high-quality submissions and look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition.”
Further information:
Minister’s office – 3225 1005 or 0419 025 326
Tourism Queensland – 3535 5010
The grant, part of $1 million in State Government funding allocated to the state’s 14 regional tourism organisations, will be used to develop training workshops to help operators improve their customer service standards, become more environmentally sustainable and look at opportunities to develop new products, and their packaging and distribution.
“These funds will allow Bundaberg Region Tourism to help local tourism operators improve the way they do business,” Ms Boyle said.
“Bundaberg already has some fantastic tourism product but both government and industry need to continue to raise the bar by looking for new opportunities and better ways of doing things.”
Ms Boyle said in the year to June 30 2008, 41,000 international and 593,000 domestic visitors spent time in the Bundaberg region.
Of these, 222,000 domestic visitors came specifically on holiday, an increase of 14 percent on the year before.
“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.”
Ms Boyle 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,” she said.
“I was pleased to see so many high-quality submissions and look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition.”
Further information:
Minister’s office – 3225 1005 or 0419 025 326
Tourism Queensland – 3535 5010