Put pressure on states
WHILST Australia has done well to control the coronavirus as a nation by closing the national borders, many of the gains and potential economic upside of this for the tourism sector have been lost through state government border closures and arbitrary decisions by state jurisdictions.
These have been out of step with the national plan and medical advice in many cases.
In 2019, tourism in Australia accounted for 3.1% of the national GDP, contributing $60.8 billion to the Australian economy.
Of this, 26% came from international visitors to Australia while 74% came from domestic tourism.
With the announcement of delays in international tourism restarting, key to our industry’s survival will be a viable domestic tourism market.
This requires support for not only tourism operators, hotels etc but also for travel agents and wholesalers that provide channels for consumers to book these suppliers.
In some states and territories well-intentioned voucher campaigns have been released, but few if any allow fulfilment via Australian travel agents.
In many cases this is a double hit for agents as it spends state revenue to support some parts of the industry whilst devaluing the role of travel agents and it artificially distorts the market.
The Federal Government has provided much of the assistance to the travel industry to date and hopefully more in the form of extended JobKeeper for the future.
The Federal Government has also provided a national plan for classifications of hot zones etc so there is a road map out.
In contrast, state governments have caused most of the negative impact to the travel industry (by arbitrarily closing borders against the national health advice) but have provided little support to the industry, and in particular, to retail and wholesale travel agents.
Is there a case for a portion of past tourism GST revenue to be used as a calculation for redistribution to build a national fund to support tourism nationally including the Australian-based distribution channels?
This would see the states share some of the cost of their decisions.
The fund could provide more money from states that have closed borders against national health advice.
We really need to have a national shared approach to a situation caused by state jurisdictions (e.g. closing borders in QLD/SA against the national health advice retards businesses nationally not just in those states).
Make no mistake, we need a national plan that does not compromise COVID-19 safeguards. Many states have proven their inability to follow health guidelines in relation to their borders, wreaking havoc on many industries nationally.
It is important for all travel agents to contact their local state representatives to see how their respective governments will assist travel agents and wholesalers in their states in order to survive into the future.
“Key to our industry’s survival will be a viable domestic tourism market ”