Business peak body urges $60 departure fee be used to fund tourism
The $60 fee imposed on anyone leaving Australia, including citizens and permanent residents, could be used to help fund the country’s booming tourism industry, a peak body has called for a major rethink of the sector.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday called for a longer-term strategic vision for Australia’s tourism industry, with visitor spending expected to exceed the $230 billion target set by the government well before 2030.
As part of the National Strategy after THRIVE 2030, ACCI is calling for an investigation into whether the existing Passenger Movement Charge could be used, in whole or in part, to create a dedicated tourism funding stream.
The fee, which was increased from $50 to $60 as part of the 2026-27 budget, is charged to all passengers leaving Australia by sea or air, including citizens, permanent residents, foreign tourists and foreign students.
Under the proposal, this revenue could be reinvested in conservation, workforce programs, tourism pressure relief, and border and biosecurity, as well as tourism infrastructure in regions where demand exceeds capacity.
ACCI Australian Chamber tourism executive chairman John Hart said the fee was always meant to be “self-fulfilling”, ensuring that the experience visitors have in Australia is one that will make them want to return and increase revenue.
But the additional $90 million expected in the first six months from Jan. 1 would be “more than enough” for border improvements and “to keep money coming in in the future.”
“If we spend the Passenger Movement Fee collection, or even the increase, on things like regional tourism and regional product development, workforce development, business, a business event strategy, all of that helps drive tourism success in the future,” Mr. Hart said.
“If we’re going to continue to get the kind of revenue growth we’ve been getting through Passenger Movement Fee collection…we need to make sure we’re an attractive destination, providing the types of services our visitors expect so they can come back to Australia and spend more money.” In its report, ACCI found visitor spending – including long-term international students – to reach $214 billion in 2024, putting the country well ahead of its $230 billion spending target. 2030 with “additional interventions”.
As a result, ACCI said the target should be increased to between $280 and $300 billion by 2035; This figure was predicted to be in 2026 before the Covid outbreak.
“Tourism has rebounded from the Covid pandemic faster and stronger than expected, presenting an opportunity to create a more ambitious national tourism strategy that supports the next phase of growth,” Mr Hart said.
Mr Hart said the critical element of this increase was investment in regional development and the industry’s workforce.
“Whatever we need to do for regional development and for our visitors to disperse across regions, making sure that the connectivity infrastructure is there, making sure that the road infrastructure is correct, making sure that there is tourist infrastructure in these regions – if we go back to pre-Covid growth numbers without doing that, the experience in the regions will not be reset,” he said.
“We have had a very difficult time rebuilding our workforce and we necessarily promote ourselves as a high-end destination… but they have expectations too.
“The quality of service that we cannot deliver unless we focus very carefully on getting more people with more skills into the workforce.”
ACCI made seven recommendations in total to the industry.
These include a “multi-dimensional target framework” for the tourism sector, which includes extending strategic timelines to late 2045, as well as targets on visitor spending, employment and competitiveness.
Other recommendations included the development of a national tourism workforce strategy for 2026-35 to reform the national governance architecture and the creation of a regional delivery architecture to encourage visitation.
