CORONAVIRUS —
TOURISM INDUSTRY — RECOVERY PACKAGE
646. Hon KEN BASTON to the minister representing the
Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the answer to question
without notice 609, asked on 16 June 2020, regarding the tourism recovery
grant.
(1) If marketing
is considered to be the core business of regional tourism organisations, why
was membership of an RTO or accreditation program required to be eligible for
the tourism recovery grant?
(2) Approximately
how many tourism businesses are there in Western Australia and how is this
defined?
(3) With regard
to part (2), what percentage of the businesses would be eligible for a tourism
recovery grant?
(4) Does the
minister feel satisfied that tourism businesses that are not members of RTOs
are being treated fairly with regard to tourism grant availability?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The following information has been provided to me by the Minister for Tourism.
(1) The
distribution of finite public funds requires an accountable set of criteria.
The government, through Tourism WA, has partnership agreements in place with
the state's five regional tourism organisations and the Western Australian
Indigenous Tourism Operators Council. These agreements cover the delivery of
business support and/or marketing activities for member tourism businesses that
are considered a priority by government. Due to this, membership of an RTO or
WAITOC was considered to be an effective eligibility
criterion. Likewise, the four identified accreditation programs—the
Australian tourism accreditation program,
ECO certification program, Star Ratings Australia program and caravan/holiday
park accreditation program—cover a broad range of tourism
sectors across the state, with some programs linked directly to state
government activities and opportunities.
(2) For the purposes of the tourism recovery fund, the
government's intent was to provide assistance to tourism businesses that could not access any other form of
COVID-19-related assistance. Tourism Western Australia, in
consultation with the Tourism Council of Western Australia, determined that 4 500
businesses were selling or providing
a tourism product across the state.
(3) A total of 36 per cent of
businesses would be eligible.
(4) Businesses
that were not eligible to apply for a tourism recovery fund grant can apply for
the $4 million tourism business survival grant fund released on 10 June 2020.