AUSTRALIAN GOVT HANDS OUT CASH TO BOOST TOURISM

MELBOURNE, April 16 (Bernama) -- The Australian Government has launched an
A$8.5 million programme designed to prop up the Australian tourism industry.

Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said grants from A$5,000 to A$100,000 would
be awarded to the best applications the government received.

He said in a year when the global tourism industry was expected to shrink
for the first time since World War II, the grants would encourage innovation.

"This is aimed at trying to get the industry to think strategically and to
work together to promote tourism, which is very important because just under
500,000 Australians are directly employed in the Australian tourism industry,
and represent 3.7 percent of the Australian GDP (gross domestic product),"
Ferguson said.

"People underestimate the importance of tourism to the Australian economy,"
he said.

He added that it was a critical move as the national tourism industry
employed half a million people.
-- BERNAMA