Australian Govt Says Passenger Charge Freeze Will Spur Tourism

By Neville D'Cruz MELBOURNE, Oct 11 (Bernama) -- The Australian Government has confirmed that the Passenger Movement Charge (PMC) on travellers to Australia will be frozen for the full term of the current Parliament. The Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb, who is the federal Cabinet minister responsible for tourism, outlined the commitment while chairing a meeting of Australia's state tourism ministers in Canberra on Friday. The previous Labor government raised the PMC twice by a total of 45 per cent, which hit tourists travelling to Australia. "Australia's tourism industry is one of our country's great strengths. It is our largest services export industry, with international visitor consumption of A$26 billion (about US$24.63 billion) which represented more than 8 per cent of total Australian exports in 2011-12," Robb said. "The previous government saw the PMC and increases to tourist visa charges as an easy way to raise revenue, with no consideration to its undermining effect on the competitiveness of our tourism sector. "Freezing the PMC will make Australia a more competitive tourism destination for international travellers which will help to grow the Australian industry. "It will also help the industry to reach the Tourism 2020 potential of doubling overnight visitor expenditure to between A$115 billion (US$108.96 billion) and A$140 billion (US$132.63 billion) by 2020," he added. -- BERNAMA