Western Australian funding to boost tourism infrastructure and regional visitor centres

More than 100 regional visitor centres in Western Australia will be eligible to apply for $4.2 million in grant funding over the next three years to help make them more sustainable.

Supported by the Western Australian Government through Tourism WA and Royalties for Regions, $1.1 million will be available in 2015/16.

Examples of projects that may be eligible under the funding include creating smart phone apps or digital kiosks, new signs to increase foot traffic, developing a café to provide another revenue stream or opening seasonal pop-up centres to help reduce operating costs.

Accredited visitor centres or local government authorities can apply for grants between $10,000 and $100,000. A business plan must be included to support applications for amounts that are more than $40,000.

Grants between $10,000 and $40,000 are available to non-accredited visitor centres who will need to show they are actively working towards achieving accreditation as part of their application.

Key Western Australian tourism projects will also be receiving $5.063 million over four years under the joint Federal and State government Tourism Demand Driver Infrastructure (TDDI) Program.

The first three projects to receive funding under the new national scheme are:

• Dampier Terrace/Frederick Street Lookout in Broome’s Chinatown. 
• Mersey Point Jetty redevelopment, Rockingham.
• A tender platform in Busselton to allow smaller boats to transfer passengers from cruise ships.

Projects from Western Australia’s Golden Outback and Coral Coast are being finalised.

Through the TDDI Program, the Federal Government is providing $43 million over four years to the states and territories.

Further WA projects will be selected through a competitive grants process with up to $500,000 awarded on a matched funding basis to the successful applicants.

The grants are available to government agencies, not-for-profit tourism industry associations and local councils for projects linked to a state, regional or destination tourism plan and have already attracted funding from other sources.

The Western Australian Government, through Tourism WA, is managing the TDDI Program for Western Australia.

Click here for more information on the Regional Visitor Centre Sustainability Grant Program.

Click here for more information on the Tourism Demand Driver Infrastructure Program.

Lower image shows the concept for the Dampier Terrace/Frederick Street Lookout in Broome.

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