Federal Government opens consultation on Australian Tourism Plan 2030 draft

Australia Tourism Minister Dan Tehan has today unveiled a draft proposed strategy to manage Australia’s visitor economy through to 2030.

Unveiled today, THRIVE2030 - National visitor economy strategy (The Re-Imagined Visitor Economy) consultation draft, sets out a long-term national plan to rebuild and return Australia's visitor economy to long-term sustainable growth.

Including actions for governments and industry, the draft proposed strategy results from the Federal Government's Reimagining the Visitor Economy Expert Panel, led by former Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson.

Tasked with providing advice to the Government to “help drive the economic recovery of the tourism industry and ensure its long-term success” and in doing so undertook extensive consultation to identify problems, barriers, ideas and solutions”, the Expert Panel's draft strategy is now open for, what it describes as, "focused feedback on the strategy’s proposed actions and further ideas on actions to address the policy priorities in the strategy".

Introducing the process, Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Dan Tehan advised “Australia’s recovery from COVID-19 is gathering pace, with travel restrictions continuing to ease and we prepare to welcome back visitors from Japan and South Korea.

“Prior to COVID-19, the visitor economy was Australia’s fourth largest export sector, valued at $166 billion and directly employing more than 600,000 people.

“Australia is still a leading international tourist destination, with world-class experiences, passionate tourism operators, highly-skilled workers and top-quality education providers.

“The (Federal) Government is working with the sector to ensure our tourism industry is set up to succeed over the coming decade, and that’s why our Government commissioned a panel of experts, led by former Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson to develop a strategy for enhancing the visitor economy.

“The panel consulted extensively across sectors and identified three key ingredients for the future success of Australia’s visitor economy: the need to diversify markets and products, modernise business practices, and collaborate more closely.

“I invite tourism operators, state and territory governments and impacted sectors to have their say on the proposed THRIVE 2030 strategy to help make our sector even stronger.

“I’d like to thank the panel members for their deep commitment to this process, which has been well-received across the industry."

Minister Tehan went on outline Federal Government support to the tourism industry  as it recovers from the impact of COVID-19 and state border closures.

He highlighted more than $20 billion in support – most of it in cash – having flowed to the tourism sector, through JobKeeper, the Cash Flow Boost and targeted sectoral support programs since the start of the pandemic.

In addition, the $1 billion COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund has included tourism specific measures such:

• $94.6 million for the Supporting Australia's Exhibiting Zoos and Aquariums program

• $50 Million for the Business Events Grants program ($50 million)

As well as

• $258 million for travel agents through the COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program.

• $185 million for Tourism Australia to ramp-up domestic marketing campaigns, including the successful Holiday Here This Year campaign

Appendix 1 of the strategy contains the Summary of Strategy Priority Actions and respondents are being asked to answer the following questions about these seven policy priorities:

• What are the top three actions you would prioritise to help the industry recover and grow?

• Are there additional actions that could be considered? Please outline the actions and suggest who would deliver them.

• Are there any actions that you would not support? If so, why?

• Are there any actions you suggest are done differently? Please outline them.

• Are there any government or industry programs you have observed as successful in addressing the 7 priority areas? These can be past or present, local, state, territory, federal government or industry programs.

• Are there existing resources that could drive outcomes?

Respondents can send their feedback to visitoreconomy@austrade.gov.au with ‘Draft Strategy feedback’ in the subject line, with submissions closing at 5pm on 23rd December 2021.

Click here to download the consultation draft.

Images: Australian tourism icon Uluru (top, credit: Aaron Collins) and Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Dan Tehan (below).