Australia’s Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) is demanding the federal government urgently consider targeted industry support to the tune of $7.74 billion.
The core of the rescue package, which TTF 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 per cent to 50 per cent or more downturn in their 2019 turnover.
The TEAM rescue package proposal has been valued at $7.74 billion, covering the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2021, and reviewed quarterly.
If this program is put in place, Australia’s tourism industry could regrow to 75 per cent of its 2019 employment figures and save 318,000 jobs, according to the TTF.
Economic modelling conducted by Stafford Strategy for the TTF projects that without post-JobKeeper support, the local tourism 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 jobs across the country.
“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,” TTF chief executive Margy Osmond said.
“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.
“Without this targeted, industry-specific support, there may not be a tourism industry left at the end of this year.
“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.”
Featured image source: iStock/SaintM Photos
