Australia’s Tourism & Transport Forum [TTF] is is demanding that the Federal Government urgently consider targeted support to save 318,000 jobs as it faces another nine months without international visitors and continuing uncertainty around domestic borders.
With TTF described as the sector’s peak national body and considered to be very well connected in Canberra with the majority of Australia’s larger tourism operators as members, TTF commissioned economic modelling by Stafford Strategy, which has revealed the fragile state of the Australian tourism industry.
TTF says that the analysis shows that without further support when the JobKeeper scheme ends in March, the industry, which has already lost 506,000 full-time positions during 2020 due to COVID-19, is facing potential extinction with the estimated loss of over 300,000 real people’s jobs all over Australia.
TTF Australia CEO Margy Osmond said, “Of those job losses the bulk will be shed in our three most populous states with 118,000 in NSW, 85,300 in Victoria and 59,700 jobs in Queensland, adding, “These sorts of additional job losses will be dire for the tourism industry which, after haemorrhaging tens of billions of dollars in 2020, has just lost another $6.8 billion over the peak summer holiday period with a string of domestic border closures following the Sydney Northern Beaches outbreak”.
She added, “Without this targeted industry-specific support, there may not be a tourism industry left at the end of this year, and “Tourism is uniquely affected by government decisions relating to borders and while other sectors and non-tourism related confidence may be rebounding, our tourism, transport, aviation and creative industries are still being crippled by government policy decisions.”
TTF says that the core of the rescue package, which it has dubbed the ‘Tourism Employee and Asset Maintenance (TEAM) program’, is a proposal for targeted assistance of between $1,000 to $1500 per fortnight for each employee of eligible businesses with a 30% to 50% or more downturn in their 2019 turnover.
The TEAM rescue package has been costed at what some might say is an “eye watering” total value of $7.74 billion, covering the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2021, reviewed quarterly, with if this program is put in place, the industry could regrow to 75% of its 2019 employment figures.
TTF says that this is a dilemma being faced by many countries with Singapore confirming it will continue its payroll support specifically for the tourism and aviation sectors for another six months from April and the newly elected US Government is also considering a range of new supports for their beleaguered tourism sector.
Ms Osmond also said that prior to the pandemic, the tourism industry spend was worth $152 billion to the Australian economy”, adding, “It’s now worth $71 billion, a staggering $81 billion loss up to September 2020 and these figures will be even more tragic when new data is released in March this year.”
She stressed, “To be entirely clear, domestic tourism spend alone cannot replace international receipts and this is only intensified by the uncertainty around domestic borders.”
To check out what Peter Shelley, the Managing Director of the Australian Tourism Export Council [ATEC] said on the same topic with specific reference to inbound international tourism CLICK HERE.
A report by John Alwyn-Jones
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