THRIVE 2030

THRIVE 2030 is Australia’s national strategy for the long-term sustainable growth of the visitor economy.

Strategy overview

THRIVE 2030 is industry-led and government-enabled. To drive success, the strategy:

• provides a vision
• sets targets
• outlines policy priorities.

More information on the strategy can be found via this link. 

THRIVE 2030 targets

THRIVE 2030 aims to return the sector to pre-pandemic visitor spend and sustainable growth:

• returning it to $166 billion by 2024
• growing it to $230 billion by 2030.

The strategy aims for regional Australia to capture about 40% of this spend.

Strategy phases

There are 3 phases of the strategy’s implementation.

Recovery Phase 2022–2024

This will focus on rebuilding the visitor economy. It will do this by:

• driving domestic visitation
• driving targeted international visitation
• addressing priority supply-side issues, such as workforce shortages.

Consolidation Phase 2025–2027

This aims to achieve consistent growth to meet targets. It will do this by:

• pursuing a targeted, diverse portfolio of markets
• investing in new products and destinations
• improving business practices
• continuing to build workforce capability.

Acceleration Phase 2028–2030

This aims to speed up growth, increase service quality and grow visitation. It will do this by building on the investment in earlier phases. This includes through improvements in business processes and technology.

THRIVE 2030 advisory and working groups

THRIVE 2030 Implementation Advisory Group

The THRIVE 2030 Implementation Advisory Group (TIAG)  includes industry leaders and senior government officials. Find out about the THRIVE 2030 Implementation Advisory Group (TIAG).

Industry Data and Expert Analysis Working Group

The Industry Data and Expert Analysis (IDEA) Working Group will recommend how to produce data that’s more relevant, and timely. This is to:

• better inform business decision-making
• better inform government policy
• build investor confidence.

Find out about the IDEA Working Group.

Workforce and Skills Technical Working Group

The Workforce and Skills Technical Working Group will investigate new approaches to help industry create a highly skilled workforce. This is so they can offer high-quality service to visitors.

Find out about the Workforce and Skills Technical Working Group.

Read summaries and download:

• THRIVE 2030 revised: The Re-imagined Visitor Economy Strategy
• THRIVE 2030 revised: Strategy at-a-glance
• THRIVE 2030 revised: Strategy Action Plan, Phase 1: Recovery
• THRIVE 2030 Strategy Implementation update June 2024

Watch the THRIVE 2030 launch video (YouTube, 1min 50sec).

THRIVE 2030 Consolidation Phase – Consultation

In 2024, Austrade held consultation sessions to hear from industry on their THRIVE 2030 Recovery phase (2022-2024) journey and ideas for the Consolidation Phase (2025-2027). Industry consultations sessions held in person and online were facilitated by the Hon Martin Ferguson AM, former Federal Minister for Tourism. Sessions were held in every state and territory, with over 350 visitor economy stakeholders consulted across 99 sessions.

As part of ART’s strategic planning day in May 2024, Hon Martin Ferguson AM facilitated a consultation on THRIVE 2030. The session was an opportunity for the ART Board to provide feedback on the region’s challenges, opportunities, and priorities to 2027.

THRIVE 2030 – The Re-Imagined Visitor Economy Submission 

In 2021, Australian Regional Tourism (ART) was afforded the opportunity to offer a submission to Australia’s next National long-term tourism strategy, THRIVE 2030.

In summary, THRIVE 2030 is too high-level to be Australia’s next national long-term tourism strategy. The proposed strategy is lacking real insight into the visitor economy, data driven strategies or measurable targets, and is not strong enough to be put forward as a long-term tourism strategy that will address recovery and drive growth into the future. 

It is accepted that the future is significantly more difficult to predict with new and emerging external factors that impact travel. Bushfires and COVID will not be the last crisis to impact the industry and so we must still be bold, plan forward, and set targets towards a shared goal. This should not stop us being flexible in our thinking and revising targets periodically. If structured correctly from the outset, with proposed industry advisory groups working collectively with government, this can be done. It’s how we build resilience. 

The agreed top three priority outcomes for the regional tourism community within THRIVE 2030 include: 

1. Inclusion of a regionally focussed advisory group 
2. Setting of clear, achievable and measurable targets for regional expenditure and dispersal 
3. Commitment from government to align funding programs such as Building Better Regions to priority outcomes and strategies through strategic and stronger state and industry collaboration 

It is essential the new long-term tourism strategy includes measurable targets and strategic outcomes for regional Australia and provides clear direction to support a strong and resilient visitor economy for the future.

To view the full ART submission click here