Applications are now open to state wine associations, eligible consortia and entities for funding through the Australian Government’s International Wine Tourism State Grants and International Wine Tourism Competitive Grants.
The two programs, which are being administered by Wine Australia, each have $5m of funding to go towards exciting wine tourism experience that will help attract more international visitors to Australia’s wine regions.
The grants are part of the $50m Export and Regional Wine Support package, which the Government announced in the 2016 Federal Budget. The $50m investment will help to underpin export growth and domestic wine-related tourism over the next four years.
Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said: “The $10m available through the state and competitive grants offers a big boost to our wine sector.
“Attracting visitors to spend their tourism dollars in our wine regions, and reconnect with the wines when back home, is really important for the success of Australian wine and our regional economies.
“Australia offers diverse and unique wine experiences and the onus is on us to maintain our competitive edge, thinking bigger, bolder and better than ever before.”
Across its four programs, the $50m Package aims to attract an additional 40,000 international tourists to Australian wine regions by 2019-20, worth around $170m to the economy.
The state grants program provides state wine associations with access to pre-determined funding allocations for eligible international wine tourism research, planning and implementation activities.
The competitive grants program provides a broader range of stakeholders with access to small and medium grants for initiatives that will grow the number of and/or spend by international tourists visiting Australia’s wine regions.
Eligible competitive grant activities include wine tourism marketing campaigns, wine events, infrastructure and innovative products, which are focused on attracting international wine tourists.
Applications will close at 5pm on Friday, 2 March 2018 and full guidelines and instructions on how to apply are available through the Wine Australia website.