Cutting Tourism Red Tape Report Card
The Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments are making progress in cutting red tape to make investment in the Australian tourism industry easier.
The first Investment and Regulatory Reform Report Card (the Report Card), released today, tracks the progress of reducing red tape in all Australian jurisdictions across various fields - from planning regulations to labour supply constraints.
The Report Card shows substantial progress in a number of areas including national collaboration and investment facilitation services and areas where more work remains to encourage new and improved tourism attractions and accommodation across the country.
Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, welcomed the release of the report card saying this was another demonstration of the Commonwealth and States working together under the Tourism 2020 Strategy.
"Investing in new developments has become easier due to tourism ministers working together to implement regulatory reform at both the national and state levels," Minister Ferguson said.
"We are committed to ongoing regulatory reform to remove the regulatory challenges for investors and operators across all industry sectors.
"Tourism planning and labour supply initiatives align with the Council of Australian Government's broader agenda to cut red tape and reduce the regulatory burden on investment.
"They also support the recently released Australia in the Asian Century White Paper, which highlights the importance of foreign investment in the national tourism industry.
"To achieve the Tourism 2020 goal of increasing overnight visitor expenditure up to a total $140 billion by 2020, an additional 40,000 rooms are needed.
"The further investment required includes more capital city accommodation, rejuvenated accommodation in regional areas, new business event facilities and innovative leisure attractions."
The Report Card measures each jurisdictions' progress on recommendations made by the June 2011 Framework Guide to Facilitate Tourism Investment, commissioned under the Tourism 2020 Strategy. The Report Card operates on a self assessment basis by each jurisdiction.
Tourism ministers have committed to continually improving the investment environment and annually publishing this Report Card to track their progress.
Source: Accommodation Association of Australia, 22 November 2012
