The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, announced $500,000 in Australian Government tourism funding for the 'Goldfields Track' tourism project in Chewton near Castlemaine, Victoria.
The funding has been matched by Goldfields Tourism Inc. to provide $1 million in infrastructure and facilities upgrades including:
- Track upgrades between Buninyong and Bendigo;
- New sections of track at Mt Alexander, St Georges Lake, Doctors Gully and Sailors Falls;
- New bridges along the 190km track to ensure safe crossing points for all users;
- New track signage to identify tracks, indicate track direction, and reassure track users; and
- Mapping and marketing activities.
The 'Goldfields Track' is a 210 km bushwalking and cycling trail connecting Ballarat and Bendigo. The track is a part of the 280 km Great Dividing Trail and makes its way through bushland terrain to historical towns and villages like Daylesford and Castlemaine, where visitors can experience the history of the 19th Century Victorian gold rushes.
Over 28 million domestic and international visitors take part in nature based tourism activities. Victoria's National Parks attract the highest visitor numbers in Australia yet Victoria is not perceived as a highly sought after destination for nature based tourism compared with other states.
Minister Ferguson said: "Tourism is a $350 million industry for the Goldfields region. It attracts 1.1 million domestic overnight visitors and more than 33,000 international visitors. Nature based tourism is a popular and growing component of Australia' tourism offering. The Australian Government's support for the 'Goldfields Track' recognises the importance of tourism to this region and the hard work by the local community."
Ms King and Mr Gibbons congratulated Goldfields Tourism on their success.
Ms King said: "This is great news for local tourism. This new funding will help lift the profile and quality of the 'Goldfields Track' and assist in positioning the Goldfields tourism region and western Victoria as a destination of choice for nature-based tourism.
"The history of gold is an intrinsic part of this region's history - and the improvements to the Goldfields Track will help make this more accessible to more people, while highlighting the many natural attractions on the way."
Mr Gibbons said: "The 'Goldfields Track' upgrade will bring more tourism spending into the region and support jobs and businesses in the local communities. Tourism attractions such as this give tourism operators the chance to increase their market share of nature-based tourism visitors."
Through the TQUAL Grants program the Australian Government has announced almost $8.3 million towards 70 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 significance of tourism across Australia is recognised in the Australian Government's National Long-Term Tourism Strategy. At the Tourism Ministers' Council on 30 April 2010, Ministers signed off on 41 priority actions against the strategy which will increase labour mobility, remove barriers to investment, lift tourism product quality standards, improve destination management and planning, build stronger links with tourism transport planning, increase industry resilience and enhance indigenous employment.
The Australian Government continues to invest in tourism marketing to create demand for our tourism products and services internationally. Tourism Australia's new $150 million global marketing campaign 'There's Nothing Like Australia' will showcase Australia to the world.
"This new campaign mobilises Australians to share their favourite destination or experience on the campaign website www.nothinglikeaustralia.com. We are using word of mouth marketing and letting technology do the work for us with over 10,000 entries on the website to-date."