Tourism fund should be opened to private sector, says minister

The minister wants to change the rules of the Tourism Development Fund so that businesses can apply for funding on a pound-for-pound basis for projects that will benefit the industry and the economy.

For the last ten years the fund has been limited to public sector organisations, but the minister says that the time is right to change the rules.

In the report accompanying his proposition to the States, which is due to be debated on 1 May, the Senator says that applications would still have to pass through expert assessment and provide solid business cases to prove that the money would be well-spent.