June 27, 2012

Local tourism leader Mary-Clare Power has warned that the recent announcement by the State Government of a doubling in funding to regional tourism organisations does not mean that assistance to the local group would automatically be doubled.

The Chief Executive Officer at “Toowoomba Golden West & South Burnett Tourism” and “Southern Downs & Granite Belt Tourism” advised tourism operators today not to get too excited by the announcement which was made at the DestinationQ Forum in Cairns.

“This week at the inaugural DestinationQ Forum in Cairns Premier Campbell Newman and Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey announced a doubling of funding for Regional Tourism Organisations. This will see funding increase from $3.11 million to $7 million per year,” Ms Power said.

“This is great news for regional tourism, however, before we all get too excited, this does not mean our funding is doubled.

“The new funding will be contestable, meaning we will be competing against our RTO colleagues for a slice of the pie.

“As with any funding news, the devil’s in the detail and we await further information.

“Be assured we have a ‘wish list’ of initiatives that are crying out for financial support and your RTO will be putting forward projects that work toward the Newman Government’s target to double overnight visitor expenditure by 2020, and add an extra $15 billion dollars flowing into the Queensland economy.

“These are ambitious targets. Some might say overly ambitious. Our region has a role to play and I ask all of you to take up the challenge of eating this elephant ‘piece by piece’.”