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The Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC), representing thousands of tourism enterprises,
has given the thumbs up and will strongly back the core tenets of the Morrison Government’s multibillion dollar stimulus package that will genuinely reinforce our industry’s resilience to the impact of Coronavirus and instil greater confidence in local households.ATIC Executive Director Simon Westaway said the body representing tourism SME’s immediate
response was one of strong endorsement of the Australian Government’s dynamic responsiveness
and preparedness to invest directly in our industry within its greater $17.6 billion package.

He said the package was well thought through, industry friendly and would specifically target and
best enable our tourism and visitor economy to move forward.

Mr Westaway said ATIC had made regular and consistent public calls for constructive and
effectively targeted Commonwealth support in the lead-up to today’s announcement, to positively
help assist the small business dominated tourism sector with initiatives that will genuinely help
underpin cashflow, provide incentives to hold in place our tourism workforce and critically help
retain our sustainability in the face of the still evolving effects of COVID-19.

Of the estimated 302,000 Australian tourism businesses, over 90 per cent are SMEs which directly
employ 1 million Australians across our country and are the pillar of our $150 billion tourism and
visitor economy. (Source: Tourism Research Australia).

“Too much was at stake without this significant and well-targeted support package for Australian
tourism and our operators. There is a compact between industry and Government and the clear
insight of the Commonwealth to support small and medium enterprise, acknowledge their cashflow
pressures and the need to retain labour will unquestionably help keep our industry on a more
sustainable pathway until the visitors return,” Mr Westaway said.

“As resilient as Australian tourism firms are, the recent and sustained cliff-face fall in international
tourism arrivals and forward bookings, the major loss of confidence in travel including for many
Australians and rightful slashing of air and land transport capacity to our visitor hotspots based on
poor demand, is an unprecedented situation.

“It is well accepted that tourism is a 21st century economic pillar and one of Australia’s largest job
creators, particularly in our regions. It is small tourism enterprises that overwhelmingly deliver our
compelling product and experiences including to over 9 million annual international visitors and
which support tens of millions of domestic visitor nights.”