TIRF grants program announcement backs ATEC election priorities

The recent announcement of the second round of the Federal Government's $9.6 million Tourism Industry Regional Development Fund (TIRF) grants program echoes the calls of the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) to continue to encourage investment in regional areas.

ATEC's 2013 Election Priorities clearly advocated the need for this funding, calling on all parties to continue to provide much needed support to regional businesses to upgrade their products and experiences; and to ensure that industry investment is supported across the states.

ATEC Chairman John King OAM is pleased to see the continuation of the grant program that offers matched funding of between $50,000 to $250,000 to assist tourism operators increase the quality and range of visitor experiences in Regional Australia.

King explained "every government needs to recognise the importance of greater disbursement of visitors and its significance to regional economies and communities.

"Following a number of tough years for regional tourism, it is important to encourage tourism operators to invest in infrastructure upgrades and better experience facilitation to help encourage more visitors to travel beyond the major gateways."

King encourages eligible business to take advantage of the new funding stream available in the Round 2 program to enhance labour and skills.

"In our election priorities released earlier this month at our Symposium, ATEC outlined that support programs building skills training and career development to promote tourism as a career option, not just a short term employment opportunity, were essential to our success as tourism destination.

"We called for all parties to invest in programs to build the capacity of regional workers to meet the needs of the tourism industry. Now that this investment opportunity is realised, we need to make sure that regional businesses are ready and able to take advantage of the grants on offer."

ATEC's 2013 Election Priorities was released in June 2013 and calls on parties to recognise the contribution the tourism economy makes to the overall economic welfare of Australia.

The document identifies five main priority areas:

• Grow Demand from Asia
• Encourage Investment
• Support Growth
• Labour Supply
• Resilience, Productivity and Quality

The full document can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/14K0xFv

13th June 2013 - ATEC AWARDS TOURISM EXCELLENCE

13th February 2013 - STACE OUTLINES FITNESS AUSTRALIA’S ELECTION AND LOBBYING AGENDA

6th March 2012 - FEDERAL COALITION LEADER PLEDGES MORE MONEY FOR LIFE SAVING