Special tourism development grants for drought areas

Just announced is Round 5 of the Australian Tourism Development Program (ATDP), a special round of grants open only to applicants proposing projects in exceptional circumstances declared areas – drought declared areas – across Australia.

Round 5 opened 1 June 2007 and closes at 5 pm local time on Friday, 13 July 2007.

The ATDP supports initiatives throughout Australia that will:

• promote tourism development in regional and rural Australia
• contribute to long-term economic growth
• increase visitation and yield throughout Australia
• enhance visitor dispersal and tourism expenditure throughout Australia
• increase Australia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination
• increase investment in tourism in regional and rural Australia.

This very competitive program offers grants over two years for tourism development projects – ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 – in two categories:

Category 1

Tourism projects and Tourism investment proposal projects – grants range from $50,000 to $100,000 and are offered on a matching cash, dollar for dollar, basis.

Project examples

• Projects focussing on providing or enhancing tourism products, facilities and/or services.
• Tourism development investment proposals – with a project value of $5 million or greater – to be presented to potential private sector investors.

Category 2

Integrated tourism development projects – grants range from $100,000 to $500,000.

Project examples

Large-scale, multifaceted activities that involve a number of regions collaborating:

• provision of tourism support infrastructure (including themed regional entry signs, standard road signs, interpretive facilities, and rest-stop amenities)
• regional and interregional planning and management processes
• product and/or market development specifically aimed at facilitating the development of niche sectors
• re-branding (or refreshing the existing brand of) the regions to better market and promote those regions to the domestic or international tourism market.

Evaluation Criteria

Each eligible application will be assessed against the evaluation criteria and compared to all other applications from across Australia.

The evaluation criteria are outlined in the customer guide, which can be printed from the AusIndustry website.