The Australian Chamber – Tourism welcomes the Morrison Government's initial $76 million tourism recovery package today as part of a long road to rebuilding one of the country's most lucrative industries.
"Bushfire-affected tourism businesses, whether directly or indirectly impacted, have a long road ahead as we work to restore Australia's strong, nature-focused tourism and travel brand," Australian Chamber – Tourism chair John Hart said.
"We welcome the Government's investment. It's essential this first wave of funding is part of an ongoing support package to help propel the country's $156 billion tourism industry back to full health."
Mr Hart, who was present for the announcement at Kangaroo Island this morning, said the the Chamber was working hard both domestically and internationally.
"Being here on Kangaroo Island shows the importance of the response in the international market – It is great to see the Sun Princess docked here today. Whilst the devastation is evident, there are still many parts of this beautiful island ready for visitors and the cruise market is so important to destinations like Kangaroo Island."
Mr Hart said the Australian Chamber – Tourism looked forward to working closely with the Morrison Government and Tourism Australia as more financial support became available.
"The priority in the recovery phase is to bring the visitors back and get people out into our regional communities.
"We have our work cut out for us. We need to both focus on our domestic market while also repairing the deep dent our image has taken across the ocean. We will need more money for quite some time to address the negative perceptions created internationally.
"Our beautiful country is still very much open for business. Many Australians rely on our tourism industry and many communities would not exist at all without it – we cannot emphasis enough how important this stimulus is and ongoing support will be."
