Tourism central to government diplomacy

Tourism central to government diplomacy
By admin


As the federal government has launched into its Economic Diplomacy Policy, national industry body Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) continues to advocate Australia’s $110 billion tourism industry as a central role, helping to deliver job and business opportunities across the country.

TTF acting chief executive Trent Zimmerman said the industry’s contribution is already significant, but there is also tremendous potential.

The industry employs 540,000 people in more than 280,000 tourism businesses across Australia, and supports a further 385,000 jobs nationwide, overall generating $110 billion in expenditure and $30 billion worth of exports each year.

“It has also been identified as a sector where Australia has natural advantages that can be leveraged to provide future prosperity and job opportunities, delivering significant additional GDP growth,” Zimmerman pointed out. 

Tourism Australia has been named in the charters as an agency that can provide expert assistance to tourism businesses seeking to grow their international presence, something TTF advocated for Tourism Australia to be incorporated into the DFAT portfolio.

The announcement should focus the government on reversing the decline in Tourism Australia’s funding that has been underway for several years and instead see the potential that international tourism marketing delivers. 

“That would also attract matching industry investment, leading to even greater reach and frequency for Australia’s international marketing and promotion,” Zimmerman concluded.

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