THRIVE 2030 is Australia’s national strategy for the long-term sustainable growth of the visitor economy. The vision is that Australia’s visitor economy provides world-leading services and visitor experiences to consumers while delivering significant and sustainable benefits to the Australian community. This will be accomplished by collaborating with stakeholders to achieve success, modernising supply side enablers and diversifying markets, experiences and destinations.
The Strategy is complemented by specific tourism frameworks. For example:
The ‘National Sustainability Framework for the Visitor Economy’ is the nationally agreed understanding of sustainable tourism developed in partnership with all Australian states and territories. The Framework is accompanied by a Sustainable Tourism Toolkit which contains practical, easy-to-understand guidance across the four pillars of sustainable tourism to assist tourism businesses on their sustainability journey.
The ‘WELCOME Framework’ provides guidance to make tourism more accessible to all travellers. It has simple, practical tips to help tourism operators to become more accessible and inclusive, helping them to reduce barriers to participation and to start their accessible tourism journey.
The First Nations Visitor Economy Partnership was established in March 2025 through a co-design process with First Nations tourism industry representatives. The Partnership supports greater participation and economic opportunities for First Nations people and businesses in the tourism industry and will investigate the establishment of a permanent national First Nations tourism body. It demonstrates the continued priority to deliver success through comprehensive collaboration, that started with the establishment of technical working groups for workforce and data under the THRIVE 2030 Strategy first action plan.
Strengthening the tourism workforce remains a priority for Australia. Workforce issues are addressed through an Australian Government Employment White Paper for a dynamic and inclusive labour market that provides opportunity for secure, fairly paid work for all. A Migration Strategy outlines reform directions for a migration system that matches the needs of the nation and delivers for Australia and migrants (both released in 2023). Sector specific programmes include the ‘Choose Tourism’ programme to attract people to work in tourism across 2022-24 (AUD 8.1 million) targeted at underrepresented cohorts, in addition to a communications campaign to encourage employers to consider employing a diverse and inclusive workforce. The Tourism Local Navigator Pilot (2023-24) supported small tourism businesses to employ people with a disability. The pilot engaged around 1 600 businesses and delivered up to 163 employment outcomes.
Accommodation Australia, an industry body, was provided funding to develop an online employment, skills and training portal (named ‘eeger’) for the tourism industry. The platform, launched in July 2025, aims to address the challenges of workforce development, skills shortages and career growth by connecting jobseekers and employers and promoting career pathways in the visitor economy.
An ongoing commitment to improving tourism data culminated in the introduction of Domestic Tourism Statistics (DoTS) from 1 January 2025 to replace the National Visitor Survey. DoTS combines survey data with mobile network operator data to measure domestic tourism. The Longitudinal Indicators for the Visitor Economy (LIVE) Framework data dashboard was launched in November 2024, collating 21 indicators that provide a more comprehensive assessment of sustainable growth across economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions (see box below). New reports and publications have also been developed on key tourism areas including accessible tourism, agritourism, and cycle tourism.
Key initiatives being implemented in collaboration with the private sector include:
The Australian Tourism Industry Council’s Quality Tourism Framework, incorporating accreditation programmes, short online courses and the national tourism awards, has been updated to build tourism business capability, funded via an AUD 8 million grant.
Ecotourism Australia’s ‘Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard’ and the Australian Tourism Export Council’s ‘Tourism Trade Ready’ programmes were delivered to build business capability.
A series of webinars supported tourism industry associations to collaborate and share experiences working with the insurance industry, to improve insurance affordability and accessibility for members.
