$3 million boost to create Drysdale Centre of Excellence

18 May 2017

Will Hodgman, Premier
Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is investing to maintain the boom in the visitor economy.

Next week’s State Budget is all about Building Tasmania’s Future, with a strong focus on jobs and training, including in our rapidly growing tourism and hospitality industries.

With the Budget back in balance we are now able to invest $3.2 million to turn Drysdale in Hobart into a Centre of Excellence for hospitality.

This investment will help produce a new generation of tourism and hospitality workers who are trained to the latest and best industry standards.

The Centre of Excellence will introduce new training options for students based on strategies that are co-designed by industry.

As well as being a premium training facility, the Centre of Excellence will open its doors to industry with the creation of infrastructure, including a training kitchen, for industry and other training providers to use.

State of the art video conferencing technology will also allow Drysdale to take hospitality training to people in regional and remote areas.

Our investment will better align our workforce training with industry demands to create rewarding and sustainable careers for Tasmanians that best meet the needs of business.

As a Centre of Excellence, Drysdale will help to address the current skills shortage in the industry and ensure tourism and hospitality training is flexible, responsive and consistent with what business is looking for.

The Tasmanian Liberal Government contributes more than $9 million annually to fund tourism and hospitality training for local Tasmanians and we will continue to support this vital sector.