Up to $900,000 is available for projects that address the supply of Chinese speaking tour guides servicing the Australian inbound tourism industry.
Overview
Strategic Tourism Investment Grants is a program offered under the T-QUAL Grants program.
The program is administered by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism. Working with the industry, experts and other government agencies, the Department develops suitable projects and potential matching funding before calling for grant applications for organisations to deliver the projects.
Suggestions for projects are invited to be submitted at any time by completing the Strategic Tourism Investment Grants—Suggestion Form.
Strategic Tourism Investment Grants will benefit the tourism industry by providing targeted seed investment for nationally significant, innovative projects aimed at supporting:
- Indigenous tourism; and/or
- economic development; and/or
- tourism employment.
The Strategic Tourism Investment Grants will address these key tourism priorities that, without Australian Government assistance, may not occur. It is proposed to fund around 20 projects over the four years of the program and to use these projects to pilot approaches that could be adopted more widely across Australia.
Servicing Chinese Visitors
Approved Destination Status (ADS) is a bilateral tourism arrangement between the Chinese Government and a destination whereby Chinese tourists are permitted to undertake leisure travel in groups to that destination. The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (the Department) manages the Australian scheme in conjunction with Tourism Australia (TA) and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
Under the ADS scheme, Inbound Tour Operators (ITOs) must be ADS approved before accepting ADS business from a Chinese Outbound Tour Operator (OTO). On face value, OTOs and ITOs are the main operators involved in arranging and looking after ADS tours and this model is supported by the ADS Code of Business Standards and Ethics (the Code).
The Department’s compliance monitoring activities have revealed that a small number of business interests, primarily operating as Commission Based Shops (CBS), who are not covered by the Code, heavily influence the ADS supply chain through the provision of tour guides and the payment of commissions to guides and ITOs.
Most ITOs operating under the ADS scheme are heavily reliant upon tour guides that are provided free of charge by CBS. While these guides help fill industry needs, the CBS tour guide’s main interest generally lies with increasing commission shopping sales. Often the tour guide is not trained as a tour guide and does not necessarily have product knowledge of Australia, reducing the quality of the experience had by visiting Chinese tourists.
The Servicing Chinese Visitors project seeks applications from organisations or consortia to develop, coordinate and deliver a solution to address quality concerns associated with the supply and quality of Chinese speaking tour guides servicing the Australian inbound tourism industry, particularly Approved Destination Status (ADS) scheme tours. Any solution put forward by applicants is expected to be evidence based and to also support the China market and tourism industry more broadly.
Objectives
The Government has established the Strategic Tourism Investment Grants program to fund projects which:
- Develop innovative and strategic tourism products and experiences through joint investment to enhance and support the sustainable economic growth of the host communities and regions; and
- Develop the industry’s capacity to address the principles set out in the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy.
Strategic Tourism Investment Grants are intended to provide targeted seed investment for nationally significant, innovative projects that would not have progressed without this program. It is proposed to use these projects to pilot approaches that could be adopted more widely.
Eligible Projects
Strategic Tourism Investment Grants will fund nationally significant and innovative tourism projects aimed at achieving Indigenous tourism and/or economic development and/or tourism employment. The Strategic Tourism Investment Grants will provide targeted seed investment for nationally significant, innovative projects that would not have progressed without this program. These Strategic Tourism Investment Grants will benefit the tourism industry and it is proposed to use these projects to pilot approaches that could be adopted more widely. Strategic Tourism Investment Grants will fund supply side projects.
Eligible Applicants
Organisations may apply for a grant to deliver a Strategic Tourism Investment Grants project in their own right, or as a member of a consortium. To be eligible to apply, the applicant must be a legal entity and able to execute a funding agreement with the Commonwealth if successful.
Commonwealth, state or territory government agencies (i.e. those entities that receive funding for their core business and operating expenses from Commonwealth, State or Territory governments) are not eligible.
If an application is to be submitted on behalf of a consortium, the application must be submitted by a single entity (the ‘lead applicant’) which would execute a funding agreement with the Commonwealth if their proposal is successful. The lead applicant will be responsible for managing the legal relationship between the consortium partners. A consortium can include Commonwealth, state or territory government agencies as a consortium member, however, Commonwealth, state or territory government agencies cannot be the lead applicant of the consortium.
It is important to note that the organisation selected to receive a grant to deliver a project will be responsible for either continuing to run the project after the funding expires or establishing alternative sustainable governance arrangements.
Funding
There will be up to $900,000 (including GST) available for this T-QUAL Strategic Tourism Investment Grant to deliver the Servicing Chinese Visitors project.
Timing
Applications will close at on 29 April 2013.
The project is expected to commence in June 2013.
Expert Assistance
Writing a good quality grant application is a critical element in the application process. An application needs to be well thought through, written concisely, have clear objectives and purpose, and show clear links to the objectives of the grant guidelines.
The grant application must answer all questions, provide all required information and respond to the merit criteria. It should also reflect your organisation’s business strategy.
Writing a good application takes time and effort, and requires particular writing skills.
Bulletpoint are expert grant consultants and can assist with all aspects of grant preparation.
Call us on (03) 9005 6789 or email to discuss further.
We have significant experience in applying for grants. Typical areas where we can be of assistance include:
- Demonstrating the identified need;
- Highlighting the relevance to current government policies and priorities;
- Complete the Project Plan and Budget Projections;
- Identify Outcomes that are measurable;
- Detail the applicant organisation’s experience or expertise in undertaking the project/s;
- Calculating the value for money; and
- Demonstrating capacity to deliver quality outcomes
Additional Information
Project Specific Information
| Document title | DOC | |
|---|---|---|
| Servicing Chinese Visitors project—Guide for Applicants | [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][PDF 89KB] | [DOC 105KB] |
| Servicing Chinese Visitors project—Project Description | [PDF 112KB] | [DOC 123KB] |
| Servicing Chinese Visitors project—Program Guidelines | [PDF 260KB] | [DOC 143KB] |
| Servicing Chinese Visitors project—Application Form | [PDF 106KB] | [DOC 209KB] |
| Servicing Chinese Visitors project—Draft Funding Agreement | [PDF 173KB] | [DOC 370KB] |
| Servicing Chinese Visitors project—Frequently Asked Questions | [PDF 39KB] | [DOC 101KB] |
Media Release
The Australian Government is encouraging the Australian tourism industry to lift tour guide quality to support the increasing number of Chinese visitors to Australia.
Applications are now open for the T-QUAL Strategic Tourism Investment Grant – Servicing Chinese Visitors Project. Applicants must develop and submit their concept for a sustainable solution that addresses the need for higher quality tour guides for the Approved Destination Status scheme and the broader China market. Up to $900,000 is available for this for this project, with a requirement for the applicant to provide matching funding.
The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, said this additional Chinese Market targeted initiative will complement the existing Welcoming Chinese Visitors project, announced in June 2012 to help strengthen the Australian tourism industry’s China-readiness.
“China is our largest inbound market in expenditure terms, worth $4.2 billion in 2012” Minister Ferguson said.
“The Servicing Chinese Visitors Project will lift standards in Australian services, products and experiences offered to Chinese visitors.
“We are seeking applications from organisations or consortia that can develop, coordinate and deliver a solution to address concerns associated with the quality and supply of Mandarin-speaking tour guides. This will not only help us improve the experience of the Approved Destination Status scheme group visitor, but also improve quality more broadly for Chinese visitors to Australia.”
The project will ensure Chinese visitors are provided with a range of detailed information about Australia, and have a high quality experience while in Australia.
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