Long Term Tourism Strategy Released

The Federal Governmentâs National Long Term Tourism Strategy (NLTTS) will address a number of supply-side constraints and rightly recognises the importance of the $89 billion tourism industry to the national economy, as an employer and as an exporter, according to peak body the Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).
TTF Executive Director, Brett Gale, said the strategy had started to address some of the industryâs major obstacles including planning and approval, tourism infrastructure development, labour supply and skills and research.
Gale explained âthe Federal Government is to be commended for listening to the industry and devising an overarching strategy.
âThe government has undertaken a mammoth task to deliver this strategy which helps lay the foundations for a sustainable tourism industry, but we now need to quickly turn the words into action.
âThe strategy sets out some ambitious milestones for 2010 and commits the government to future policy initiatives to facilitate investment and regulatory reform, enhance product development and address labour and skills shortages, all of which will need funding in next yearâs budget.
âUnlike previous attempts, the strategy canât be left to collect dust, nor can it get bogged down in bureaucracy.�?
Gale said the strategy would need a coordinated industry/government approach.
âDespite the complexity of some of the issues the strategy attempts to address, we need to ensure the working groups responsible for driving the strategy have widespread industry representation and are agile, flexible and able to action the recommendations quickly.
âThe tourism industry stands ready to work with all levels of government to put Australia on the front-foot to create a long and profitable future for the sector.�?
The NLTTS was developed by the Tourism Ministers Council, chaired by Western Australian Tourism Minister Dr Liz Constable this year, which consisted of the Australian, including State and Territory, and New Zealand tourism ministers.
Meanwhile the latest National Visitors Survey shows that while Australia might have weathered the global economic storm, domestic tourism continues to lag behind the rest of the economy.
The survey, released today by Tourism Research Australia, shows domestic visitor nights fell 1.4% in the third quarter compared to the same time in 2008.
Over the last 12 months, visitor nights were down 7.2% and overnight expenditure down 5.9%.