The Government’s vision is for Tasmania to be the environmental tourism capital of the world.
Last year, more than 1.26 million people visited Tasmania, spending a total of $2.33 billion on accommodation, attractions, tours, transport and other goods and services, at an average of $1,844 per visitor.
In total, tourism directly and indirectly contributes more than $3 billion a year to the Tasmanian economy and supports 38,000 local jobs.
We welcome the Turnbull Government’s $30 million co-investment in the Cradle Mountain cable-way which along with the development of the master plan, will further turbo-charge our great tourism industry.
The cable-way will ensure a world-class visitor experience at Cradle Mountain by providing hundreds of thousands of visitors with all-year, all-weather transport between the Gateway Precinct and Dove Lake.
It will cement the Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park as a national natural treasure, to indisputably rival the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
Importantly, this co-investment is expected to help attract an additional 60,000 visitors a year to the north-west region.
Since coming to office my Government has committed in excess of $200 million to enhance the visitor experience and improve facilities for people spending time in our parks and reserves.
These strategic investments are part of our Plan for targeted, sustainable growth in tourism which protects what’s special about Tasmania and importantly, boosts jobs and the visitor economy in every region of Tasmania.
It is about getting the balance right. The Government has always maintained that only sensitive and appropriate tourism developments would be allowed provided all necessary State and Commonwealth planning approvals are granted.
My Government is getting on with the job delivering on our Plan to take tourism in Tasmania to the next level.