13 January 2010
Brisbane Marketing will receive a special funding grant of $72,000 to prepare a feasibility study and action plan for the North Ipswich Railway Workshops precinct and implement a plan for developing new tourism product in the Greater Brisbane Region, Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor announced today.
Mr Lawlor said the grant, part of $1 million in Queensland Government funding allocated to the state's 14 regional tourism organisations, would help Brisbane Marketing enhance the region's tourism credentials and help entice higher visitor numbers.
"These funds will allow Brisbane Marketing to conduct in-depth feasibility studies for further development of the North Ipswich Railway Workshops precinct and help identify what further tourism product is needed for the region," Mr Lawlor said.
"Brisbane already has some fantastic tourism product but both government and industry need to continue to raise the bar by looking for new opportunities and better ways of do ing things."
Mr Lawlor said in the year to September 2009, 913,000 international and 4.7 million domestic visitors spent time in Brisbane.
"These visitors spent $3.79 billion in Brisbane, making tourism one of the key economic drivers for the region," he said.
"The $1 million in grant funding is a State Government commitment to fund tourism development initiatives regional tourism organisations would otherwise be unable to undertake.
"Regional tourism organisations across the state will use their allocations for a range of projects from new product feasibility studies to industry education programs."
Mr Lawlor said the funding was part of the State Government's new Tourism Action Plan to 2012.
"Competition for the tourist dollar is increasingly fierce and it's important for destinations to constantly look at ways to improve their visitor experience - be it investigating new product opportunities, increasing customer service lev els or providing business advice and support to operators," he said.
"I was pleased to see so many high-quality submissions and look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition."
