It is time for Victoria’s tourism industry to take the next step as one of Victoria’s key industries of the 21st century, says the Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC).
VTIC Chairman Jeremy Johnson has indicated that major investment is required from the industry and Government in Victoria’s tourism marketing and industry development to enable the tourism sector to move up the value-chain to become a genuinely high-yield industry sector producing even greater value-add to the overall Victorian economy.
“While we have taken great strides as a sector over the past decade, we believe we can become an even more sophisticated industry offering a more diverse range of tourism product and employment opportunities for Victorians - the State Government’s May Budget provides the opportunity for this to occur,” says Mr Johnson.
“At the moment there is a lack of high-quality 5 star accommodation in regional Victoria, particularly along the Great Ocean Road and around our world class network of national parks – as a consequence we are losing the wealthy high yield outdoor and adventure tourists who currently travel to other international and Australian destinations.
“This has downstream impacts on regional Victorian tourism and the wider Victorian economy. With industries such as manufacturing under intense pressure from international competition, it is imperative that we build up labour-intensive, high value statewide industries such as tourism.
“We are seeking the following initiatives which focus on attracting higher spending visitors and growing yield from new and existing attractions:
- An increase in Tourism Victoria’s Budget to at least $80 million to enable competitive and sustained domestic and international marketing and to stimulate industry development – this investment is necessary to arrest the decline of domestic tourism markets, capitalise on international market growth and build Victoria’s brand and competitiveness.
- Continue to invest in the attraction and development of major events, including existing events in order to grow yield.
- Increase the appropriation to the Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau by $5 million per annum to capitalise on high yield business tourism and the new Convention Centre.
- Implement a Nature Based Tourism strategy to take advantage of high yield nature tourism and integrate it with our tourism product strengths of food and wine. Victoria’s national parks attract the highest number of park visitors in Australia (28.6 million) but we are not capturing the appropriate level of yield.
- Establish a capital improvement fund to refresh attractions such as Phillip Island Nature Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens and other cultural attractions to avoid declining visitation, viability and sustainability.
- Seek increased investment to value-add to our National Parks, many of which have been devastated by bushfires. Tourism yield can be increased by projects such as a world class Visitor Centre at Port Campbell National Park, near the Twelve Apostles.
- Investment in industry development in the areas of infrastructure, labour and skills and product development in order to underpin visitor experience. Under-resourcing in this area has resulted in the failure to capitalise on growth sectors such as caravanning, nature-based and cultural tourism, which will further be driven by the burgeoning baby boomer market.
“The Government have a track record of enhancing our tourism competitiveness by supporting tourism and events and responding quickly to external threats such as drought and bushfires – now is the time to invest for sustained growth and increased competitiveness.
“The industry is willing to respond to Government investment on a `dollar for dollar’ basis – we are keen to partner with Government to grow our sector for the benefit of the wider State economy and community”, says Mr Johnson.
Background - what is VTIC
The Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) is the peak policy council for the Victorian tourism industry. |
