Tourism projects under the Enterprising Partnerships Fund
[ Last Updated 23 October 2008 ]
NZTE and MED have had a number of enquiries about the possibility/ chances of obtaining funding from the Enterprising Partnerships Fund (EPF) for tourism projects. There is nothing to prevent projects from the tourism sector (or any other sectors) receiving funding through the EPF, provided they meet the fund criteria.
The goal of regional economic development policy, since it was refreshed in 2007, is to improve the quality of the regional business environment to support the development, attraction and retention of globally competitive firms. This focus is designed to support and encourage regions to create a regional platform for businesses to enable them to be supported and grow to be internationally competitive.
As well as the eligibility criteria (see the EPF Information Sheet), EPF applications are assessed against the following four criteria areas:
- Ability to generate substantial economic development benefits for the region and NZ.
- Furthering regionally based networks and partnerships that promote knowledge sharing, innovation and international connections.
- Alignment with national goals and national strengths.
- Quality of the proposal.
As the EPF is a contestable fund, applications are judged against each other on the extent to which they meet the criteria. This means that even if a project meets the criteria there is no guarantee that it will be funded.
Some commonly asked questions concern the size of proposed projects and how many players/stakeholders need to be involved.
- In general small, localised projects will struggle to meet the above criteria, particularly in their ability to generate substantial economic development benefits for the region and New Zealand.
- As the fund is designed to further regionally-based networks and partnerships, projects where benefits accrue to an individual firm or small number of firms are unlikely to succeed.
Many tourism based projects have outcomes that are more than just economic in nature. For example, a project might also have environmental, cultural or heritage implications. Projects that have both economic and other outcomes must clearly demonstrate that the economic benefits for the region and New Zealand are substantial if they are to meet the EPF criteria.
Given tourism projects often have multiple outcomes (such as recreational, heritage or economic) they are often better suited to the Lottery Significant Projects Fund, which can take multiple outcomes into account (including economic benefits). If a project cannot clearly demonstrate substantial economic benefits MED and NZTE strongly suggest that other such funding sources should be considered..
Where regions have tourism as a high priority and have implementation projects to give effect to the strategy, it may be appropriate to use RSF funding to support these projects.
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