AusLeisure

The NSW Government's response to the Visitor Economy Taskforce (VET) Report has been welcomed by Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) Managing Director Felicia Mariani.

Issued in June this year, the VET Report provides key measures that will work to address tourism industry capacity and resilience into the future.

Mariani said the NSW Government's response to recommendations, including the establishment of Destination Management Planning (DMP), was a positive step for the industry, stating "ATEC has long urged governments to engage Destination Management Planning practices as a way of ensuring Australia gets maximum benefit from the tourism economy and from the significant funds that are allocated in every State in the name of tourism.

"We are pleased to see this is front and centre in the NSW Government's response as a measure that will help to bring greater coordination around the needs of the industry, community and economy from our tourism infrastructure."

Mariani said a key element to the success of DMP processes is a strong understanding of the strengths and positioning for the region coupled with a clear vision of the shortcomings in realising the region's full potential. This includes having a clear understanding of the capacity of the area to engage today's global consumer - taking in as well the accommodation capacity to satisfy any growth in demand.

She added "the mapping of NSW accommodation supply and demand will provide a strong framework for understanding some of the gridlocks and opportunities in our tourism offering.

"This will provide essential information that will feed into the development of the DMP's and into key tourism infrastructure for the future."

Another key point in the VET Response was the NSW Government's support for moving to a common border between Australia and New Zealand.

Here Mariani concluded "ATEC is fully supportive of a common boarder approach as it will enable direct access to our regional centres from New Zealand, opening up more opportunities for our industry.

"A common boarder approach would give destinations such as Newcastle, Hobart and Townsville the ability to better connect with Australia's largest inbound market and improve accessibility to other regional and remote parts of the country.

"Unfortunately, the NSW Government has not seen the value of supporting the establishment of a Cabinet sub-committee to oversee the progress of the visitor economy priorities across Government, something ATEC believes to be an important element to success.

"We accept that the NSW Government feels that the structures are in place to achieve the coordination necessary to drive the whole-of-Government commitment needed to grow the visitor economy.

"For this to work, however, it will be imperative for tourism to remain as one of the key pillars of the NSW economy and ATEC will work closely with Government to ensure this focus is maintained."

For more information go to www.atec.net.au 

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