A National Tourism Planning Guide designed to help planners streamline investment, was released by Tourism Ministers today during their Ministerial Council meeting in Darwin.

Funded through a TQUAL grant to the Tourism and Transport Forum, the Guide is an outcome of the National Long Term Tourism Strategy and it makes the case for stimulating tourism investment.

The National Tourism Planning Guide is a good example of the work of Australian Governments through the National Long Term Tourism Strategy to identify barriers to tourism investment and put in place measures to reduce them, Minister Ferguson said.

By providing a tool for local and state government planners, the Guide will assist with decision making regarding approvals for new tourism developments such as hotels, cellar doors, restaurants, tourism attractions or resorts.

The Guide highlights the unusually high spill over effect from tourism investment. For every 10 rooms in an accommodation establishment an additional 18.2 jobs are established in the wider community.

It also makes a clear case for considering the impacts on tourism of urban and regional planning decisions. Mostly what is good for the local community is good for visitors although this is not always the case and placing visitors at a disadvantage through ill conceived planning decisions impacts on the ability of tourism to contribute to the local economy and create jobs.

The Minister Assisting on Tourism, Senator Nick Sherry, said investment decisions cant be made in isolation.

Everyone wants a good balance between supporting investment and protecting community values, Minister Sherry said.

Investors, many of them small businesses, often tell us about the value of streamlining approvals and bringing down investment costs so the tourism industry can play an even bigger part in Australias prosperity.

This guide puts the needs of tourism front and centre in the planning reform debate, he said.

Tourism Ministers also released a number of additional reports and research papers today including the National Online Strategy for Tourism, Tourism Operators Online Capabilities Benchmark Survey and a Going Global Action Plan.

Ministers noted other significant outcomes of the National Long Term Tourism Strategy including:

• Identifying and addressing regional employment hot spots where skilled staff are harder to find;
• Addressing regulatory barriers to tourism investment;
• Capturing the benefits of simplified border arrangements for trans-Tasman travel;
• Working with industry to support the National Tourism Accreditation Framework;
• Identifying further practical training opportunities for Indigenous youth and tourism businesses;
• Rolling out the National Online Strategy for Tourism and the tourism e-kit; and
• Implementing a National Tourism Research Agenda.

To meet supply-side challenges and work towards the industrys 2020 Potential, Ministers endorsed a two-year work program and committed a further $2.9 million for measures to bring about more jobs, investment, quality and resilience in the tourism industry.

A program of industry forums in each capital city is in the pipeline to highlight the work done so far and the work yet to come.

The National Tourism Planning Guide, Factsheets and further information are at www.ret.gov.au/tourism/tmc

Media contacts:

Fiona Scott 0457 542 330 (Ferguson)

Courtney Miller 0458 088 227 (Sherry)