Image: Australia aims to increase tourism investment

Tourism Australia; the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism; and the Australian Trade Commission have joined forces in a bid to encourage greater investment in the sector.

A five-year strategic partnership will see the three organisations work to promote a wide range of industry opportunities throughout the country to both Australia-based and overseas investors.

The partnership has produced the Australian Tourism Investment Guide, which has outlined up to 80 investment-ready tourism schemes across all states and territories.

Among the projects identified is the Perth Waterfront and Waterbank East Perth mixed-use development in Western Australia, as well as a new wilderness lodge at Cradle Mountain, Tasmania.

Tourism Research Australia also released the Tourism Investment Monitor 2012 in order to provide investors with an overview of the sector's investment pipeline.

Andrew McEvoy, managing director of Tourism Australia, said: "We acknowledge that investment sourced both locally and internationally, is vital to growing the Australian tourism industry.

"As part of a recently expanded remit for Tourism Australia, we're broadening our focus to play a greater role to help facilitate tourism investment opportunities and more strongly align demand and supply side activities."

Details: www.australia.com

Image: Chee-Onn Leong/shutterstock.com