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Budget delivers measures to keep tourism sector strong
02 Apr 2019 | Archive
The Australia Chamber – Tourism, the peak national tourism body, endorses the measures in the 2019-20 Federal Budget that help tourism maintain its strong growth.
“The $50 Million allocated to iconic tourism infrastructure is an important investment in Australia’s tourism future,” Executive Chair of Australian Chamber – Tourism, John Hart, said today.
“Continuing to refresh tourism product is vital to maintaining a competitive position internationally. Some of the new investment in regional infrastructure through the Building Better Regions Fund is also expected to flow to tourism.
“As a customer-facing sector, the tax cuts announced for Australian workers will result in additional spending in tourism.
“The strong growth in domestic visitor nights (up 7%) and spend (up 10%) in the most recent National Visitor Survey are set to increase even further if Australians have more money in their pocket.
“The Australia Chamber – Tourism also supports the allocation of an additional $5 Million to Tourism Australia to promote into the youth market, supporting the Working Holidaymaker program. Whilst this allocation was announced earlier, it has been given effect in tonight’s budget providing record funding to Tourism Australia.
“Working Holiday Makers are vital to the Australian economy. They spend approximately two and half times more than they earn, and create over 25,000 jobs. The additional allocation to Tourism Australia is the best way to boost this very important tourism market.
“We also welcome that tourism businesses will be able to apply for a refund on luxury car tax up to a maximum of $10,000 from 1 July 2019. This will encourage investment, as will the extension of the instant asset write off to $30,000.
“Tourism will also benefit for the changes to Vocational Education and Training. Additional resources allocated to skilling Australians will help tourism to service visitors to the standard they expect. One of the greatest capacity constraints faced by tourism is the lack of skilled staff. Tonight’s budget announcements will help address these barriers to further growth.
“The measures in the budget are a good first step to continue the momentum for Australian tourism which is outperforming most other sectors of the economy.”
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