John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tourism Darling Downs was formed in May to develop and promote our region and its experiences to visitors, boosting the benefit to the local economy as a result. Its formal launch last Tuesday, 15 June, saw 500 people gather at the Wellcamp airport for what is being heralded as a new era for this industry in our regional area. I am pleased to see linkages in place with Tourism and Events Queensland, the regional tourism organisation, local councils and industry bodies to support this mission. This is an industry-led imitative focused on increasing the awareness and appeal of our region and, ultimately, more visitors, longer stays and increased expenditure per stay. One of our attractions, the Jondaryan woolshed, which was built in 1961, held the inaugural Queensland Fiery Foods Festival this past weekend, and it was good to join many locals who were in attendance.

I say to the tourism industry in general and particularly to Tourism Australia: you must acknowledge the potential of regional areas, such as ours. It is not just about Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, for example, it is about regional Australia with the many attractions reflecting all sorts of experiences to do with agribusiness, food tourism et cetera. That is the future for tourism.