The Australian Tourism Development Program assists in the development of a continuous tourism experience throughout Australia by:

• supporting initiatives that will contribute to long term economic growth
• increasing visitation and yield throughout Australia
• enhancing visitor dispersal and tourism expenditure throughout Australia
• increasing Australia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination.

Types of grants

There are two distinct categories of grants under the Australian Tourism Development Program:

• Category 1:  Tourism Projects
• Category 2:  Integrated Tourism Development Projects.

Applicants may only apply for funding for a particular activity under one category of the program in each funding round.

Category 1 – Tourism Projects

Projects funded under this category will generally be focused on providing or enhancing tourism products and/or services.

Examples of possible projects are:

• further development of existing tourism businesses or expansion of existing businesses into tourism activities
• development of tourism niche markets
• development of tourist attractions and facilities which build on and complement existing industries or Indigenous or cultural heritage attractions.

Category 1 grants of $50,000 to a maximum of $100,000 (GST exclusive) will be provided for approved projects.

Applicant eligibility for category 1
The following types of organisations from across Australia are eligible to submit an application for a category 1:

• private sector businesses
• businesses specialising in Indigenous tourism
• non profit organisations
• tourism or economic development organisations
• peak or national tourism industry associations
• local government agencies
• state/territory government agencies involved in land management for tourism purposes
• initiatives from a combination of any of the above groups.

Category 2 – Integrated Tourism Development Projects

Projects funded under this category should aim to be large scale, multi-faceted activities that involve collaboration in the development and/or implementation of effective strategies for tourism market development.  

Projects may be either:

• in the developmental phase, developing partnership approaches across a number of regions to establish unified research, planning, image and/or marketing for an area
• in the implementation phase, which may involve the implementation of a number of elements, for example:
  • a distinctive regional ‘brand’
  • a distinctive regional or inter-regional product
  • provision of tourism support infrastructure
  • regional and interregional planning and management processes and research
  • targeted international and domestic marketing and promotion
  • product and/or market research specifically aimed at facilitating the development of niche sectors.

Category 2 grants of $100,000 to a maximum of $500,000 (GST exclusive) will be provided for approved projects:

• those in the developmental phase are generally expected to be seeking funds in the order of $100,000 – $250,000; and
• those in the implementation phase and already well-developed are generally expected to be seeking funds in the $250,000 – $500,000 range, for assistance with the implementation of their plans.

Applicant eligibility for category 2
The following types of organisations from across Australia are eligible to submit an application for a category 2 grant:

tourism or economic development organisations peak or national tourism industry associations local government agencies non-profit organisations initiatives from a combination of any of the above groups.

Applicants must be registered for or exempt from GST in order to receive funding.
Projects are expected to be of no more than two year’s duration.