The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events has announced a special events booster fund to help kick-start the recovery of bushfire-affected areas.
The Minister, Martin Pakula said the dedicated Bushfire Recovery round of the Regional Events Fund would deliver up to $300,000 to help event organisers attract more tourists.
“Events provide a tremendous boost for local communities and we want to give organisers every opportunity to draw a bumper crowd to their town,” Mr Pakula said.
“There are so many options – in a couple of weeks we’ve got the Riverboats Music Festival in Echuca and a week later it’s the Paynesville Music Festival on the Gippsland Lakes,” he said.
“March offerings include the Lost Trades Fair in Bendigo and ChillOut in Daylesford. North, south, east and west – there’s an event for everyone in regional Victoria.”
Mr Pakula said events in 15 local government areas w eligible for funding: Ararat; Alpine; Ballarat; East Gippsland; Glenelg; Golden Plains; Indigo; Mansfield; Northern Grampians; Pyrenees; Southern Grampians; Towong; Wangaratta; Wellington; and Wodonga.
He said funding applications for up to $20,000 required the support of either a local council or regional tourism board.
He said Visit Victoria was set to manage the program, with applications set to open this month.
Mr Pakula said an ordinary round of the Regional Events Fund open to all local councils would commence soon.
