Prime Minister Scott Morrison has visited Cairns to announce a $60 million package to rebuild the tourism market over the next two years.

$15 million will go directly to Tourism Tropical North Queensland and the PM is encouraging the state government to match the funding.

CEO of Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Mark Olsen, says the industry had put a business case forward to the Prime Minister during a recent trip.

He says pre-COVID, the region generated $1 billion of tax revenue every single year.

But over the last 2 years, the loss over has been $5.7 billion in lost visitor expenditure.

He says many operators are “cash-strapped”.

“The first piece of the puzzle for the $15 million is to support our operators here, to get back on the road,” he told Scott Emerson.

He says the second piece of the puzzle is a “whole of Australia campaign” to work with retailers to promote and create those Cairns holidays.

Press PLAY below to hear more about where the money will go

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