Tourism Promotion needs strong budget backing

Pro development lobby group Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) is calling for today’s Federal Budget to adequately support the new Tourism Australia marketing campaign.

TTF is encouraged that the latest Overseas Arrivals and Departures figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows arrivals for March up by 8.1% on the same period last year, while departures rose by a remarkable 29.9%.

TTF Executive Director Brett Gale said while the figures show a positive start to the year for inbound tourism, there is much more to be done to keep up with outbound growth, stating “the overwhelming trend over recent months has been a reasonable inbound recovery, but booming outbound tourism … Australia now needs to make the most of the global recovery through targeted marketing and investment in tourism infrastructure.

“Industry has long called for a long‐term marketing strategy, which is being delivered with Tourism Australia’s There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign.

“The recent TTF MasterCard Tourism Industry Sentiment Survey showed that industry is right behind this campaign. It is time for the government to get behind it too.

“(The) Federal Budget is a prime opportunity for the Federal Government to demonstrate its commitment by maintaining Tourism Australia’s funding at $131 million. This will ensure it has the resources it needs to get on with promoting Australia as the destination of choice for both domestc and international travellers.”

Gale said over the past 12 months there were 876,300 more Australians heading overseas than international visitors to Austraia. This is a stark turnaround from a 1.3 million person surplus in March 2004.

He concluded “our estimates suggest that Australia is facing a $4 billion tourism trade deficit in 2009/10."

For more information go to www.ttf.org.au