Tourism Australia Open For Business

1 July 2004

Australia's new national tourism organisation, Tourism Australia, was officially launched today by the Minister for Small Business and Tourism, the Hon Joe Hockey and new chairman, the Hon Tim Fischer.

The new organisation brings together the Australian Tourist Commission, the domestic marketing body, See Australia, the Bureau of Tourism Research and Tourism Forecasting Council.

Following the official launch of the new organisation, Tourism Australia Chairman, the Hon Tim Fischer chaired the first board meeting of the new amalgamated tourism body.

Mr Fischer said the Tourism Australia Board was already off to a flying-start, choosing Tasmania as the venue for the Board's first outreach meeting in September and announcing the appointment of Ken Boundy to the role of Acting Managing Director of Tourism Australia.

"We want to get down to business as quickly as possible and the first Board Meeting has commenced the process of the appointment of a Managing Director for the new organisation, and at the same time appointing Ken Boundy as Acting Managing Director," Mr Fischer said.

"The new Brand Australia is building momentum both within Australia and key markets overseas and the new Tourism Australia Board will work closely with the industry to help bring about further expansion.

"The formation of Tourism Australia today is a significant step forward to ensuring the long term sustainable future for tourism in Australia."

A key responsibility of Tourism Australia will be to increase awareness and interest in Australia as a holiday destination. This will include the further roll-out of the recently launched Brand Australia, which will now be extended to other markets across the globe, including the United States, New Zealand, China, Korea, Germany and Japan.

Mr Fischer attested it is not generally realised that 1 in 10 jobs in Australia are directly or indirectly connected to the tourism industry, and about 50 cents of every tourist dollar spent is in regional Australia.

The Australian tourism industry employs more than 550,000 Australians, and generates $17 billion per year in export earnings for the country. Domestic tourism in Australia is worth over $52 billion a year, with more than half of this expenditure occurring in regional and rural Australia.