Today’s announcement by Premier Steve Bracks and Treasurer and Rural and Regional Development Minister John Brumby of a $138 million package to assist the recovery of tourism in bushfire-affected areas of Victoria represents a swift and practical response, says VTIC.
“The Government’s response recognises the importance of tourism as crucial to the health of the regional Victorian economy”, says VTIC Chairman Jeremy Johnson.
“Since the bushfires, VTIC has had the twin objectives of seeking Government support to encourage visitors to return to recovering affected areas and restoring vital assets.
“Today’s announcement builds on the $4.5 million tourism recovery package announced in January 2007 by Premier Steve Bracks and Tourism Minister Tim Holding that was aimed at funding events, marketing and public relations initiatives to restore visitor growth and rebuilding iconic infrastructure assets such as Craig’s Hut, as well separate initiatives such as funding aimed at the re-opening and rebuilding the Walhalla Goldfields Railway.
“Providing the critical support required to rebuild fire affected assets recognises their importance as economic and environmental assets, which constitute an important part of Victoria's tourism experience.
“Marketing support will also be helpful because, not only were tourism assets destroyed by fire, visitors were deterred from entering affected areas. Furthermore, areas relatively unaffected by fire suffered a downturn because of the perception of fire danger. The bushfires came on top of an equally devastating drought, which has also impacted on visitor perceptions.
“In many respects, today’s package deserves to be applauded because it goes beyond tourism recovery and seeks to underpin tourism growth in the future – two cases in point being the sealing of a dirt section of the Jamieson-Eildon Road resulting in the road circumnavigating Lake Eildon and the provision of funding to facilitate all-year vehicle access on the Mt Buller-Stirling Road.
“In the meantime, we ask the Government to maintain a watching brief with regard to ongoing drought and bushfire activity and its impact on tourism”, says Mr Johnson.
Background - what is VTIC
The Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) is the peak policy council for the Victorian tourism industry. |
