A $7 million recovery and resilience package aims to help Queensland’s tourism industry build back better and reduce extreme weather disruption.

Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt says the assistance will enable Queensland tourism operators to build disaster resilience after the “extraordinary” flood and cyclone events of the past few years.

“Ensuring our tourism infrastructure is robust and ready for the next inevitable disaster is critical to the ongoing viability of the sector,” he said.

The largest component of the Tourism Recovery and Resilience Package is a $5 million Building Resilient Tourism Infrastructure fund, open for applications from Friday and closing on October 28.

“This will provide funding for impacted tourism businesses to build their resilience and aid their response to future flooding and natural disasters through innovative solutions, including bespoke engineering solutions and improved business response to disasters.”

The Tourism Recovery and Resilience Package is jointly funded by the Federal and Queensland governments.

Grant funding from $20,000 to $150,000 will be considered for eligible tourism business resilience projects in 37 declared affected local government areas following natural disaster events in 2021-22.

Queensland Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe says examples of resilience projects include small levees, pumps, hoists to reduce the inundation risk to valuable equipment, and alternative power supplies.

“Projects could also include improvements to existing tourism infrastructure and resilience training for tourism business staff.

“We know these are measures that can make a huge difference to tourism business sustainability and reducing the heartache of future extreme weather events.

“By helping tourism operators to reduce business downtime after extreme weather, we hope to see fewer booking cancellations and less impact on visitor economies.”

Mr Hinchliffe said $2 million would also be invested in exploring opportunities to diversify visitor experiences in areas susceptible to natural disasters.