The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, and the Member for Capricornia, Kirsten Livermore, today welcomed a $316,050 upgrade of Capricorn Caves near Rockhampton.
Australian Government funding of $100,000 from the TQUAL Grants program will contribute towards construction of a new visitor centre, development of a new tour exploring the geological history of the caves, and the establishment of a training centre for tour guides.
Minister Ferguson said: “The Capricorn Caves are an award winning business which is seeking to bring in the next generation of tour guides. This project will support new jobs, and provide opportunities for the local community to pursue rewarding careers in the tourism industry.”
Ms Livermore congratulated Capricorn Caves on their success.
“This region attracts more than 640,000 domestic and international visitors annually,” she said. “Despite the Global Financial Crisis the region maintained its level of international visitors in 2009 compared to the previous year. This is an outstanding result in what was a very challenging year for tourism.
“This funding will help to keep the product fresh and create a new reason to visit the Caves. The training centre will provide a local training facility for the region to develop new tour guides and trained staff for the local tourism industry.”
Through the TQUAL Grants program the Australian Government is investing almost $8.3 million towards seventy innovative tourism projects across Australia. These targeted investments assist the industry to explore new market opportunities, expand the range of services they can offer, promote growth and contribute to job creation throughout the Australian tourism industry.
The Australian Government is also investing in tourism marketing to support further growth in international and domestic visitor numbers. In Australia, workers have accumulated 123 million days of annual leave, worth $33 billion in wages. The Australian Government and Tourism Australia’s ‘No Leave No Life’ campaign encourages workers to use their leave to discover Australia.
Minister Ferguson said: “With a few extra days off here and there, I expect many Australians will be attracted by the opportunity to spend some quality time here at the Capricorn Caves.”
Tourism Australia’s new $150 million global marketing campaign ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ will further showcase Australia to the world.
This new campaign will stimulate international interest in Australian tourism by inviting people to share their favourite place or experience and load personalised images and stories online. To date, more than 10,000 people have actively participated in this campaign.
Tourism contributes over $9 billion to the Queensland economy and directly employs over 120,000 people in Queensland.