Yesterday’s backdown by the Federal Government over the annual indexation of the departures tax for air and ship movements is “a significant win for our industry”, the General Manager of the Tourism Industry Council NSW, Mr Andrew Jefferies said this morning.

Whilst the increase to the passenger movement charge from $47 to $55 will remain and commence from July 1^st, the Federal Government’s original intention was to propose legislation that would have seen the charge indexed to the rate of inflation from the 1^st of July 2013. It was estimated that by the 2015/16 financial year, the proposed legislation would have filled Government coffers to the tune of $600 million.

 “Whilst the Government’s backdown was prompted by the potential embarrassment of an Opposition motion to remove the annual indexation of the charge, the underlying result is that this is the first significant win for the tourism industry on the PMC since its introduction by the Keating Government in 1995,” Mr Jefferies said.

 “The PMC is nothing more than a tax on tourism that hurts New South Wales small business operators.  The increase and the additional CPI indexation are outrageous tax grabs that do little to promote, grow and develop tourism in New South Wales. The Tourism Industry Council NSW is pleased that the annual indexation has now been removed from the legislation.”

 “In addition, we look to forward to learning further details about the introduction of the regional tourism stimulus fund, expected to be worth about $48 million over the next four years.”

 “We congratulate the co-ordinated approach and leadership from organisations such as the Australian Tourism Export Council, Australian Federation of Travel Agents and the National Tourism Alliance for their hard work and role in reversing the Federal Government’s initial legislation.”