The Liberal Government is committed to building on our competitive strengths such as tourism, and key to this is the new stand-alone Tourism Tasmania.
Our plan is to grow the number of visitors to Tasmania to 1.5 million per year by 2020, which the industry says will create up to 8,000 new jobs.
Tourism Tasmania will help reach this target with its new
focus now firmly set on being results and market driven.
Today, I welcome the new chairman of Tourism Tasmania James Cretan, who will
play a pivotal role in realising Tasmania's tourism potential.
Mr Cretan is a passionate Tasmanian with experience on the boards of the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania and the Tasmanian Skills Institute.
He also brings practical experience having founded the Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village, and work on other ventures in his portfolio including the Swansea Chalets, Swansea Holiday Park and the Shoreline Hotel.
As chairman, Mr Cretan will oversee Tourism Tasmania's strategic direction and play a significant role in communication with government and industry.
The latest figures show Tasmania is fast becoming a must-see destination with a record number of visitors in the 12 months to March, with about 1.06 million interstate and international visitors touring our island.
I look forward to working closely with Mr Cretan to build on this encouraging trend.