Tourism lobby group calls for urgent government action

SYDNEY – Entire Australian communities risk being left behind as the downturn in international tourism leads to job losses, demonstrating the need for an urgent injection of Federal funding, according to the country’s peak national body, Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).

TTF said the problems confronting tourism are amply illustrated by the national accounts figures for the year to the end of June showing negative economic growth of 2.7 per cent in Queensland and 3.9 per cent in the Northern Territory.

The latest labour force data show that 50,840 more Queenslanders were unemployed in July 2009 compared to August 2008 – a jump of 71 per cent – while the comparison for the Northern Territory shows unemployment growth of almost 3,000 people – a jump of 120 per cent.

TTF managing director Chris Brown said it all adds up to bad news for the tourism sector.

“Tourism is a labour-intensive service industry, meaning any drop in demand causes job losses very quickly,” Brown said, “and that’s exactly what we’re seeing in tourism-dependent areas, both in the regions and our cities.”

“The Federal Government has effectively used stimulus spending to shelter Australia from the worst effects of the global financial crisis and we are the only developed economy to record growth over the past 12 months.

“However, areas that are highly reliant on international visitation have largely missed out and ignoring that fact risks some communities being left behind altogether.

“As the Prime Minister noted on national radio this morning, Far North Queensland is highly dependent on tourism – especially international – and it has the highest rate of unemployment in the country at nearly 10 per cent.

“Unemployment in the Northern Territory in July had more than doubled compared to August 2008, and that’s without accounting for chronic, historical under-employment.

“But tourism job losses are not restricted to regional areas, with young people from western Sydney losing jobs in city hotels as a result of the global downturn.

“These people are the unseen face of declining international tourism demand.

“What all this shows is that the tourism industry needs help from the Federal government.

“The $90 billion tourism industry is one of the country’s biggest employers and brings in export earnings of almost $25 billion a year, however it has borne the brunt of the economic downturn, with at least 20,000 jobs lost.”

Brown noted that inner-metropolitan areas are also being hit hard, with the jobless rate in inner Sydney at 7.2 per cent – up 4.5 percentage points over the previous 12 months – while the Federal electorate of Sydney has the nation’s highest proportion of direct tourism employment at 16.2 per cent.

The Gold Coast – another tourism dependent region – has also been hit hard, with 8,600 more people unemployed in July 2009 than in August 2008.

Unemployment on the Sunshine Coast has also jumped by almost 7,500.

“We are calling for the immediate injection of $40 million in tourism marketing funding to be complemented by the investment of funds from the tourism sector,” Brown said, “which will help to retain and restore tourism jobs, especially in regions highly dependent on overseas visitors.”

“Stimulating demand will help to retain and restore tourism employment and every dollar spent on international marketing will generate $13.50 in tourism expenditure, massively boosting economic activity and Australia’s export earnings.

“Also, TTF is advocating the temporary suspension of the Passenger Movement Charge for arrivals from short-haul markets as another demand stimulus measure.

“The $47 charge is a disproportionate burden on people coming to Australia from countries in our region.

“We calculate that dropping the charge for arrivals from New Zealand and Japan would cost $70 million, but generate an additional $180 million in tourism expenditure.

“Its labour intensive nature means tourism can quickly provide employment opportunities as demand increases.”