Will Hodgman,Premier & Minister for Tourism
Ensuring all regions benefit from our thriving visitor economy is a key priority of the Tasmanian Liberal Government, which is why we have today launched the Regional Tourism Attraction Loan Scheme.
Applications are now open for the $20 million program that provides low interest loans of up to $1 million for tourism operators to develop new products, experiences and attractions that will help grow our visitor economy in regional Tasmania.
We understand it is critical that we continue to invest in new products and attractions, to keep people coming to the state.
And we must work harder than ever to ensure our visitor economy remains strong and continues to support more jobs across the state.
Today's launch coincides with the release of the latest Tasmania Visitor Survey data, which shows visitors spent a record $2.5 billion in the year ending June 2019, up four per cent on the previous year.
Today's results exceed the T21 – Visitor Economy Strategy goal of growing visitor spending to $2.47 billion by 2020 for the second quarter in a row.
Visitation to Tasmania remained steady, with 1.32 million visitors, up one per cent on the previous year to June 2019.
During the period the number of people visiting friends and relatives grew four per cent, and their spending grew 10 per cent on the previous year, with the growth in business visitors up 12 per cent.
We cannot afford to take our tourism success for granted, nor underestimate the contribution it makes to our economy, which is why my Government remains its strongest supporter.
