The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, has welcomed the launch of the internationally renowned 'CowParade' public art exhibition in Margaret River, Western Australia.
The exhibition has previously featured in cities from Sydney to Sao Paolo and was brought to the region using $112,150 of Australian Government funding under the TQUAL Grants program.
'CowParade' is an international public art event featuring life-sized cow statues painted by local artists and situated throughout the Margaret River region's many attractions. Local tourism operators are expected to benefit from increasing numbers of visitors for the duration of the event.
Minister Ferguson said: "On average, visitors to Australia's South West tourism region spend $282 per trip. I am sure that the local industry here will benefit from the additional visits and short stays as people come to see the exhibition."
In 2007-08, tourism directly employed over 47,000 people in Western Australia alone and contributed $3.8 billion in Gross State Product. Eight innovative tourism projects in Western Australia are receiving funding under the Australian Government's TQUAL Grants program.
Minister Ferguson said funding for this project was part of a wider strategy to help the Australian tourism industry make an even greater contribution to economic growth.
"The objective of the Australian Government's National Long-Term Tourism Strategy is to unlock more investment in tourism. We aim to remove barriers to investment in hotels, airports, conference centres and other infrastructure to lay the groundwork to ensure a productive and prosperous future for our $40 billion industry.
"We are committed to giving tourism operators and potential investors access to the right information so they can make well considered investment and business decisions. Better information on demographics, taxation, market trends and labour issues improves investor confidence and empowers tourism operators to plan and grow their business."
Minister Ferguson announced 70 successful TQUAL Grants projects worth a total of $8.283 million.