Reform and record funding for regional NSW tourism

“Known as the Regional Visitor Economy Fund, this major reform to funding will take the promotion of regional tourism to another level.

“This is an increase of $6 million over three years on current funding,” Mr Souris said.

“The annual funding is provided in two streams. The first, $11.1m is for Regional Tourism Organisations and the second, $10.5m for product development and marketing promotions of the regions.

“This reform is part of the Government’s Visitor Economy Industry Action Plan based on recommendations by the Visitor Economy Taskforce and aims to boost regional economies through increased tourism.

“We inherited a regional funding scheme that was inequitable and dysfunctional and this new system rewards innovation, effort and results.

“Tourism to regional NSW is vital to rebuilding the NSW economy. Visitor expenditure in regional NSW was worth more than $12.8 billion in 2012, an increase of more than three per cent compared to the previous year.

“Overnight visitation to regional NSW also increased to more than 72.8 million visitor nights in 2012,  an increase of more than two per cent compared to the previous year”.

Key reforms announced include:

• Regional Destination Management Plans being mandatory to apply for  allocations from the Regional Visitor Economy Fund
• The opportunity to apply for both marketing and product development funding
• Stronger performance measurement and reporting requirements.

Destination NSW CEO Sandra Chipchase said: “Destination NSW will be conducting free workshops throughout the State over the next few weeks to explain what the funding is for and how to apply for it. We will also provide advice on the development of destination management plans.

“We want to make the process easy to understand and implement, as we all want more effective campaigns up and running as soon as possible.” 

 Find out more about the Regional Visitor Economy Fund