Abbott gets cold feet with tourism promise

Abbott gets cold feet with tourism promise
By admin


The Coalition Government is set to break another election promise to Australia’s tourism sector, with The Australian today revealing that Abbott’s Government will increase the Passenger Movement Charge by almost 400%.

Prior to the election, the Government promised to freeze the Passenger Movement Charge at $55 for the whole next term of Parliament, but this doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.

Departure taxes as high as $270 will be imposed on some international visitors, with the news coming just weeks after new figures showed growth in Chinese visitors has halved under the Coalition Government.

Tourism was also absent from the list of priority industries in the Abbott Government’s competitiveness agenda released in October.

The Coalition Policy on Tourism released on September 5 last year promised to “make it easier, not harder for the tourism sector”, with tourism one of Australia’s largest services exports, employing a million people.

Grants, research and investor tools have reportedly been slashed, and access to business advice for Australia’s 280,000 tourism businesses axed.

This is in addition to the absence of a Minister for Tourism under the Abbott Government. 

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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