With next month’s federal election just 27 days away, industry group the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) has welcomed Labor’s AUD 150 million commitment to the tourism industry – the second endorsement from an industry body that Labor policy has received.
The first endorsement came last month from the Accommodation Association of Australia (AAoA) after the Australian Labor Party (ALP) pledged to let hoteliers and accommodation providers advertise cheap room rates online without fear of being penalised by giant online travel agents (OTAs).
Chief executive of the Accommodation Association of Australia (AAoA), Richard Munro, was jubilant at that development, describing the ALP announcement as “a breakthrough for our industry and consumers and welcome news to the Accommodation Association of Australia, who have been lobbying for this outcome for years”.
Now, in a statement issued yesterday, the TTF has praised on Labor’s strategy of including AUD 95 million in grants to improve infrastructure around existing tourism attractions, AUD 30 million to expand the range of tourism experiences in individual regions and AUD 25 million for Tourism Australia to get more international visitors to Australia and showcase the country to domestic tourists.
Commenting on yesterday’s funding announcements by the ALP, TTF chief executive Margy Osmond said Labor “has clearly been listening to the needs of Australia’s tourism industry”.
Tourism icon. Uluru Ayers Rock
“The proposed investment will allow tourism businesses to create new experiences, improve service quality, expand in regional areas as well as further promotion of tourism on the worldwide market.
“This weekend the industry was able to trumpet government statistics which showed domestic tourists spent AUD 72.2 billion dollars in Australia, up an amazing 13% on 2017 statistics.
“Tourism is one of the country’s most successful industries but in order to continue this incredible momentum we need to see long term commitments and today’s announcement confirms that Labor recognises just how important this sector is when it comes to a strong economy,” Osmond said.
Written by Peter Needham
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not every hotel is against OTA in fact most now find it is cheaper than front line booking staff we allways can discount for direct BUT quess what ? most do not give a cheaper price when you ring direct ! .So the Labor Party is promising to give $95m $30m and $25m. HMM how stupid are we THERE ALLREADY IS IN EXISTANCE under the present regime $150m for this purpose DAH ! isn’t that the same as we can apply for , and some get – expansion – refurbish must be OVER $150k to be elibible now hahaha
not every hotel is against OTA in fact most now find it is cheaper than front line booking staff we allways can discount for direct BUT quess what ? most do not give a cheaper price when you ring direct ! .So the Labor Party is promising to give $95m $30m and $25m. HMM how stupid are we THERE ALLREADY IS IN EXISTANCE under the present regime $150m for this purpose DAH ! isn’t that the same as we can apply for , and some get – expansion – refurbish must be OVER $150k to be elibible now hahaha