According to Travel Today online, tourism should develop better non-advertising communication strategies as the industry, or it 'will never be able to compete with mining or farming' for government support.

Speaking at the Tourism Futures conference in Brisbane, Anthony Hayes, chief executive of Tourism Queensland (TQ) said the $70-100 million spent in recent weeks by the mining industry in its bid to avoid paying tax on vast profits,  illustrated the vast gulf tourism would have to cross in getting the federal government's attention.

The agricultural lobby was also very strong in Canberra, despite being only marginally larger in economic value than tourism, which is Australiaís  third largest export earner. 

Hayes said instead of focusing on the arms race of television advertising, state tourism organisations should use more innovative ways of garnering publicity. 

He highlighted TQ initiatives such as 'Best Job in the World' and the 'Sunshine Family Exchange' launched at the Shanghai World Expo that swapped the lives of a Queensland family with one from the Chinese city for a week.

"You cannot imagine the amount of coverage something like that generated in Shanghai. For the price of a few flights it has been worth millions of dollars of publicity." he said.

TQ will also focus on "sucking up to airlines and chasing cruise lines" to increase arrivals to the state, he added.

Editors comments: I sincerely hope that the government doesn't share this view or they'll be no hope for tourism.  However, the point is well made, tourism should not be reliant on handouts all the time, innovation is definitely the key.