Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flown into Cairns packing a $60-million funding boost to entice international visitors back to Australia.
It has been a dire two years for the tropical city – known as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and world-heritage listed rainforests – with southern lockdowns and international border closures smashing an industry once worth $2.5 billion annually.
Speaking in Cairns today, Mr Morrison said $45 million would go to Tourism Australia and another $15 million to the locally based Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
"There is no part of Australia that is more dependent on international tourism than here in Tropical North Queensland," Mr Morrison said.
"It has been heartbreaking to see the streets and the cafes and the many operators not realising what they love to do.
"But up here, the tourism industry knows how to deal with setbacks … the pilot strike, back to when the Japanese market moved on and we had to secure new markets.
'Like it was 30 years ago'
More than 9,000 tourism jobs have been lost since the pandemic began, according to Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
Chief executive Mark Olsen said the funding was the shot in the arm the industry needed and would be used to help market the area overseas.
"We're having to rebuild and establish brand new relationships — it's like it was 30 years ago," Mr Olsen said.
"We'll be leveraging off the Tourism Australia advertising campaign activity to make sure that the Far North Queensland region is front and centre through airlines and digital campaigns."
Mr Olsen said the region's tourism industry employed 15,750 full- and part-time staff before the pandemic began.
