Visitor Servicing Fund in Australia

Deadline: 19-Jun-23

Applicants are now invited to submit their applications for the Visitor Servicing Fund to deliver innovative visitor information tools that encourage people to stay longer and spend more across the state.

The Fund will ensure current and future visitor information needs are met and exceeded.

Travel decisions are heavily influenced by the information available to visitors, and the Fund will deliver more in-person customer service and online technology, ensuring visitors have all the information they need get the most from their trip.

The Fund will help further Victoria’s position as a destination of choice for local and international visitors, by connecting people to attractions, local businesses and encouraging them to revisit.

Fund Objectives and Outcomes

• The objectives of the Visitor Servicing Fund are to:
  • Support the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative visitor servicing models and processes
  • Build the capability of visitor servicing stakeholders to provide better coordinated visitor servicing that responds to current and future visitor information needs.
• The intended outcomes of the Visitor Servicing Fund are that visitor servicing stakeholders:
  • Coordinate more effectively in their visitor servicing approaches
  • Adopt more consumer-centric and region focused visitor servicing models
  • Increase their capability to encourage visitors to extend their stay and spend.

Streams & Funding Information

• The Fund will deliver two grant streams:
  • Stream A: up to $50,000 (excl. GST) will be available for the creation or updating of visitor servicing strategies
  • Stream B: between $50,001 and $625,000 (excl. GST) to support the delivery of major visitor servicing projects.
• Visitor servicing strategies should focus on the delivery of visitor information through a customer experience lens during the plan, book and experience stages of the visitor journey. This will ensure strategies remain regionally focused, customer-centric, on brand and identify visitor servicing stakeholder roles and responsibilities.

Eligible Projects

• Stream A – Visitor servicing strategies
  • Stream A funding will support collaborative approaches (with RTBs or local councils as the lead applicant) to strategic planning and coordination of visitor servicing through:
  • the creation of a visitor servicing strategy, or
  • updating an existing visitor servicing strategy.
• Stream B – Major visitor servicing projects
  • Funding Stram B is for the delivery of major projects that will drive innovation, transform visitor servicing in Victoria and generate long term and sustainable impacts.
  • Projects should focus on the delivery of visitor information servicing during the plan, book and experience stages of the visitor journey.

Eligibility Criteria

• Stream A – Visitor servicing strategies
  • Applicants must be one of the following entity types to be eligible under Stream A:
    • Recognised Victorian Regional Tourism Boards (RTBs)
    • Victorian Councils, where they are not currently aligned with an RTB
• Stream B – Major visitor servicing projects
  • Applicants must be one of the following entity types to be eligible under Stream B:
    • Company incorporated in Australia
    • Incorporated association
    • Victorian Regional Tourism Boards
  • Victorian Local and State Government entities, including:
    • Public Land Managers, Land Management Authorities and Committees of Management
    • Local Government Authorities
  • Universities and educational institutions
  • Not-for-profit organisations, including community groups that are an incorporated body, cooperative or association
  • Traditional Owner Corporations, organisations and groups, and Aboriginal-owned businesses
  • Other incorporated entity approved by the Department.
  • Where the Fair Jobs Code applies, Stream B funding applicants must satisfy additional requirements.
• General applicant eligibility requirements
  • The following eligibility requirements apply to applicants of both Stream A and Stream B.
    • Strategies or projects must encompass one or more tourism region. In areas not currently aligned with an RTB (including greater Melbourne), strategies or projects must encompass a minimum of three local government areas.
    • In line with the Visitor Servicing Fund’s objectives, eligible applicants must demonstrate that the strategy or project will be delivered in collaboration with multiple partner organisations.
    • Partnerships between multiple RTBs, Councils and partner organisations are permitted and encouraged.
    • Partner organisations may include (but are not limited to):
      • Relevant State Government departments and agencies, such as Parks Victoria and the Department of Transport and Planning
      • Melbourne Airport, Avalon Airport, other key regional airports, ferry operators etc
      • First Peoples’ Traditional Owner Corporations, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, First Peoples’ tourism operators
      • Tourism-related businesses, such as accommodation and hospitality providers, attractions and tour operators
      • Local/regional and sector tourism associations
      • Local/regional community organisations
      • Alpine Resort Management Boards
    • The following entities are ineligible partner organisations:
      • Visit Victoria
      • Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC)

Deadlines

• Stream A: 19 June 2023
• Stream B: 3 July 2023

For more information, visit Visitor Servicing Fund.