The Quality Tourism Framework in Australia has been welcomed by industry leaders, cited as a much-needed tool.
The Australian Tourism Industry Council has welcomed the AUD 2 million, two-year funding extension for the Quality Tourism Framework (QTF), announced in the Federal Budget.
The Quality Tourism Framework supports small and regional tourism businesses to develop, improve and market sustainable tourism products and experiences.
ATIC CEO Erin McLeod said the funding would support the ongoing delivery of the QTF program, with more than 7000 businesses having already achieved Sustainable Tourism Accreditation, Accessible Tourism and Tourism Emissions Reduction programs and other national tourism quality standards.
McLeod said the suite of programs provides a pathway for every business across Australia to achieve sustainable tourism accreditation, assess their accessibility and emissions and provide accurate information to guests.
The Australian Government had previously invested AUD 8 million in the Quality Tourism Framework over the last four years through Austrade.
“The funding extension will support at least an additional 1,000 tourism businesses to reach national standards in sustainability, accessibility and emissions reduction and to provide e-learning courses to tourism businesses throughout metro and regional Australia,” McLeod said.
McLeod added that the Sustainable Tourism Accreditation was the tourism industry’s largest and longest-running sustainability program, recognising businesses that demonstrate best practice across environmental, cultural, social and commercial operations.
“We encourage tourism businesses across the country to participate in the Sustainable Tourism Accreditation, Accessible Tourism and Tourism Emissions Reduction programs to help strengthen Australia’s reputation as a high-quality, sustainable and welcoming destination for all visitors,” McLeod said.
This has followed research from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data, which showed Canadian arrivals to NSW surpassed 2019 levels in March 2026, reaching 9820. Canada was the ninth largest source of international visitors to NSW during the period.
The surge follows Tourism Research Australia data showing Canadian arrivals to NSW reached 101,200 in the year ending December 2025, up 13.2 percent year on year. Canadian visitors stayed 1.8 million nights (up 20.6 percent year-on-year) in the state and spent AUD 229.7 million (up 41.8 percent). The average Canadian visitor spends 17.6 nights in NSW, with 33 percent of visitors from Canada also visiting regional NSW.
Travellers aged over 55 were the largest visitor cohort (45 percent) in 2025, with 95 percent of all visitors to NSW from Canada not travelling to Australia on a group tour.
According to TRA, Canadian visitation to Australia is forecast to reach 200,000 visitors in 2030. Canadian visitors come to Australia to visit friends and relatives more than other international visitors and are more likely to visit regional Australia than other international visitors.
Key demand-driving experiences include sightseeing, going to the beach and visiting national and state parks. Canadian travellers also show a willingness to pay a premium for experiential and eco-friendly travel products and services. According to Tourism Australia, Canadian travel distribution channels are concentrated, with a few large wholesalers handling most of the outbound travel to Australia. Canadians favour using travel advisors more than other travellers globally, and 73 percent typically research a trip two to eight months in advance.
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