Plan for local tourism only

AUSTRALIA’ S tourism industry is ha em or rh aging $10b na month and faces even bigger losses if state borders do not re-open and Job Keeper is not extended beyond its current Marchend date.

That’ s the word from industry experts, who warn that earlier optimism about a step-bystep recovery for the sector was giving way to a deeper sense of pessimism which is shaking the confidence of operators and travellers alike.

Today the Mercury launches Travel Fight back, a new campaign designed to support the tourism industry and encourage Australians to plan trips to see all our country has to offer.

Tuesday’ s federal budge t inclu ded $250 mfo ra Regional Tourism Recovery Package and $50m for destinations most affected by the closure of Australia’s international border, but also revealed the government’s expectation that international travel “would remain low through the latter partof2021”.

It was a sobering realisation for many that tour ism would remain largely “locals only” for another 18 months.

And even a significant uptick in domestic tourism “will not be sufficient to fill the $4bn black hole left by almost no international travel,” Tourism and Transport Forum CEO Margy Osmond (pictured) said.

The industry was facing “a four to five-year recovery period” and “one budget is not going to fix it for us,” she said.

The forum has estimated that 470,000 jobs have already been lost in the tourism sector, and Ms Osmond said it was critical that Job Keeper, or a similar program, offered support for the industry “probably into 2022, because the impact on our industry is quite unique and overwhelming”.

Economic modelling for the forum by Stafford Strategy revealed if Job Keeper was not extended for the industry, a further 300,000 jobs could be lost.

Ms Osmond said t heap parent reluctance of many Australians to travel, particularly by plane, was the “next major hurdle” for the industry.

But whether or not the desire to travel is there, many simply cannot travel because of state border closures.

Australian Tourism Industry Council executive director Simon Westaway said the bar had been set very high for borders to reopen, including Queensland stipulating that NSW must go 28 straight days without a case of coronavirus transmission.

“It’s almost like they’re looking for reasons not to open rather than to open ,” Mr Westaway said .“The mindset has got to change, because we have very low community transmission rates across the country. They’re taking it to a level that rips confidence apart .”

Similar comments came from Flight Centre CEO Graham Turner, who said the conditions for border reopenings were not just onerous, but ridiculous.

“We have to learn to live with the virus, and we have to remember that the problems in the travel and tourism industry have been caused by government restrictions, which can be undone,” he said.

Mr Turner said the next 12 months would not be easy for Flight Centre, but the company “will be able to see this out”.

“We’re assuming that there won’t be a huge amount of income over the next 12 months. We will lose a substantial amount of money, but with the modelling we’ve done on a conservative basis we should return to a small profit in 21-22,” Mr Turner said.

The Transport and Tourism Forum has called a virtual summit of industry players on Friday to discuss border closures.