Grants confirmed for Regional Tourism Organisations
31 Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) have secured investments in the form of grants ranging from $400,000 and up to $1.5 million each from the $26.6 million allocated in the Tourism Communities: Support, Recovery and Reset Plan announced in May.
Funding is allocated according to the size of the RTO, with each RTO falling into a tier: small, medium, medium-large or large. Small RTOs receive $400,000 grants, medium $700,000, medium-large $1,000,000 and large $1.5 million respectively.
RTOs work alongside the tourism industry, stakeholders, Māori/iwi and communities to develop destination management plans, and to stimulate visitation, among many other things.
To be eligible for the investment, RTOs had to have a commitment of funding from local government, among other criteria.