Victorian budget backs arts, recreation and tourism

Announcing a surplus budget, the Victorian Government is backing the arts, recreation and tourism sectors with new funding pledges in its 2014/15 budget.

In the arts, the Victorian Government will be committing $44.9 million in new funding for initiatives including:

• $16.4 million in building upgrades and maintenance package for Arts Centre Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria;

• $8.5 million for the expansion of the Victorian College of the Arts through the re-development of the former Victorian Police Mounted Branch stables in Southbank;

• $3 million to Museum Victoria to continue its successful program of renewal of the permanent exhibition spaces, including the development of new children’s exhibitions;

• $5 million for the Arts and Cultural Facilities Maintenance Fund, which supports essential maintenance works at state-owned arts facilities that house a range of Government and non-Government arts organisations; and

• $850,000 for the continuation and consolidation of funding for the VicArts Grants program which provides a total of $3 million to support Victoria’s independent arts sector.

In recreation and sport, funding will include:

• $15 million for new Greater Bendigo Aquatic Centre;

• $8 million to redevelop Moorabbin Community Reserve;

• $300,000 for a new Integrity in Sport study focusing on community sport;

• $2 million over two years for the Community Sports Facility Program;

• $4.8 million over four years for the Significant Sporting Events.

Commenting on the recreation and sport funding, Victorian Minister for Sport and Recreation Damian Drum said the funding would improve facilities and increase participation rates to build a healthier and more active Victoria.

Minister Drum stated “the $15 million construction of the Greater Bendigo Aquatic Centre and the $8 million redevelopment of Moorabbin Oval will offer significant opportunities to boost participation, while a further $12 million funding has been allocated to improve facilities as part of the Strategic Sports Infrastructure and Projects Program

Commenting on integrity in sport initiatives, Minister Drum added “the study will look at the effect of gambling, performance enhancing drugs and other integrity issues on community level sport, and whether there is a role for Government to engage with police and sporting bodies in protecting and educating.”

Events being backed by the Significant Sporting Events include the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Grand Final held in Bendigo in March and the National Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne this month.

An addition $69.7 million of funding for tourism will be spent to support job creation and economic activity by providing the funding to support the following programs over the next four years.

Initiatives to be backed include:

• $17 million for Melbourne marketing – this initiative seeks to increase visitors to Melbourne initially through the continued rollout of the very successful Play Melbourne campaign, and the development and subsequent rollout of further campaigns to engage consumers globally.

• $14 million for Regional tourism marketing – this initiative seeks to increase visitors to regional Victoria including two dedicated marketing campaigns: an integrated campaign to increase awareness of regional Victorian destinations and experiences in key interstate markets, and a multimedia intrastate campaign to encourage Melburnians to travel to regional Victoria.

• $13 million for Air Services attraction – this initiative complements and expands on previous funding to attract air services from priority destinations through working with Melbourne and Avalon Airports in negotiating directly with airlines to introduce or increase air services and undertaking targeted cooperative marketing activities with airlines.

• $25.7 million for business events – will increase business event visitors to Melbourne and regional Victoria by supporting the Business Events Fund to attract large, international business events to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centres, supporting the activities of Melbourne Convention Bureau and the MCEC in securing business events for the state.

While welcoming the additional tourism funding, pro-development lobby group Tourism & Transport Forum criticised the lack of funding to expand exhibition space at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), describing it as a “a missed opportunity.”

However, TTF Chief Executive Ken Morrison said the additional money for tourism marketing is a positive, stating “we welcome the increases in the four-year funding envelopes for tourism marketing and business events, but the lack of a commitment to expand the Melbourne Exhibition Centre is disappointing

“With the decline in Victoria’s traditional manufacturing sector, now is the right time to be committing additional funding to tourism as a growth industry.

“Victoria is leading the nation for growth in international tourism, with overseas visitor numbers and spending in Victoria growing twice as fast as the national average.

“Additional investment in marketing and events will help the state to continue this great performance and help Victoria reach its target of doubling overnight visitor expenditure by 2020.

“Importantly, the budget allocates $25.7 million over four years to help Melbourne Convention Bureau and MCEC continue to attract high-quality international business events to Victoria.

“However, industry is disappointed that no additional funding has been allocated in this budget to progress the much-needed expansion of the exhibition facilities at MCEC.

“Without this expansion, Victoria will lose its competitive edge to other cities, so TTF will continue to lobby for this important project to be given high priority by the government.”

“Tourism supports 203,000 jobs in more than 73,000 tourism businesses across Victoria and the industry will continue to grow with the support announced in (this) budget.”

19th April 2013 - NEW CAMPAIGN TO BOOST TOURISM IN REGIONAL VICTORIA