Tourism fund opens for second round

Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key today announced the opening of the second funding round of the Tourism Growth Partnership.

This $28 million Government incentive is available over four years and is aimed at boosting innovation and uplifting productivity in the tourism sector to ensure New Zealand gains more from international visitors’ spend.

This contestable funding round will be accepting applications until 31 May 2014.

“Round one of the Tourism Growth Partnership attracted $37.3 million in funding requests from applicants, with projected value of $98.5 million in business growth. This is a good indication that the industry is ready to start investing to remain competitive globally,” says Mr Key.

“Currently projects worth $28.59 million in tourism sector growth, with potential government funding of $4.7 million are progressing through the business plan stage and will be matched dollar for dollar by industry.

“For the second round of the Tourism Growth Partnership I encourage applicants to collaborate with industry sectors such as IT, hospitality, retail, and market development to respond to new market opportunities.
“Restoring visitor confidence in the Canterbury region, growing emerging markets and leveraging New Zealand’s unique cultural aspects are among the priorities of this funding programme.”

Two earlier out-of-round successful applications were the Canterbury Tourism Partnership and the Tourism Industry Association for the development of the Tourism 2025 growth framework.

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