Tourism money fight

Margo Zlotkowski

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

TOURISM Minister Desley Boyle will today make a personal appeal to her federal counterpart for a major funding injection into the Far Northern tourism industry recovery plan.

Ms Boyle will meet Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson and Tourism Australia managing director Geoff Buckley in Brisbane to push the case for a major commitment from the Federal Government in the wake of Qantas' axing of flights between Cairns and Japan.

"She'll be going in there asking for significant money," a State Government source said.

At today's meeting she is also expected to outline to Mr Ferguson and Mr Buckley details of a major action plan she and other state tourism figures have been working on since Qantas' shock announcement last Thursday.

Ms Boyle yesterday cancelled a two-week overseas trade mission to Canada and South America so she could focus on the recovery plan.

The State Government also re-affirmed its commitment to the $450 million hospital redevelopment, which will be funded by the sale of Cairns Airport.

There are fears the airport's value has diminished in the wake of the flight cuts but Premier Anna Bligh said she remained confident of a top price.

"Even if it doesn't come in at exactly where we thought it would, we've made a strong commitment that is unequivocal to the people of Cairns," she said.

"We've made allocations in this year's Budget to start the process of the Cairns Hospital, we've got the plans on, in place, and it's going full steam ahead."

Federal Leichhardt MP Jim Turnour reiterated his stance that the Federal Government would not be rushed into making a knee-jerk response to the loss of flights.

"I don't think money's the simple solution to this," said Mr Turnour, although he stressed the state's $4 million cash bailout was "a great start".

"We need to actually look at the product, the reasons why Qantas has pulled out, what are we doing in the longer term to ensure our airport is competitive?"

The Cairns Aviation Strategy Group also held a crisis meeting that lasted for several hours.

<strong>Fallout: </strong>Qantas' decision to axe flights between Cairns and Japan has caused major concerns in the tourism industry.

Fallout: Qantas' decision to axe flights between Cairns and Japan has caused major concerns in the tourism industry.

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