Driving demand is one of the key routes to recovery for Australia’s tourism industry following the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Australian Tourism Industry Council Executive Director Simon Westaway.
He told Sky News the half-priced airfares – offered by the federal government – were a “good first step”.
“Demand driving is going to be part of the road back, and why it’s important is the domestic tourism industry is the backbone of our broader tourism and visitor economy.
“We were, pre-the-virus, a $150 billion plus sector. One in 12 working Australians worked in the broader tourism industry and that broader visitor economy.
“The numbers now are really galling, the industry lost $90 billion in value in 2020 … it is now in excess of one in 22 Australians working in the visitor economy.”
Mr Westaway said it was also key to boost confidence among Australians to travel throughout the country as well as obtaining certainty aroun
Cheap flights don t come without risks â even if they re subsidised by the government
SatSaturday 13
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SatSaturday 13
The Government will subsidise flights to Alice Springs, offering easy access to Uluru.
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When you re a child, taking a holiday is easy â you just tag along and have as much fun as possible.
When you grow older, you realise how much planning your parents needed to do to make it a memorable trip.
Some of this planning is hard work, but when you get it right, it pays off. But during the coronavirus pandemic â even with the help of a $1.2 billion scheme â not even hard work may be able to save you from your plans falling apart.
Around 800,000 half-price airline tickets are being made available as part of a $1.2 billion tourism support package unveiled by the federal government, but there are a few things you should know before you try to book.
Australian Tourism Industry Council Executive Director Simon Westaway says the slow reopening and “narrow” stimulus for the aviation sector has left the tourism industry “on the sidelines”.
As part of the federal government’s $1.2 billion stimulus package 800,000 discounted airline tickets will be made available to Australians in a bid to restore the tourism, travel and aviation industries.
The “great stress” on the tourism industry was “exacerbated” first by the closure of international and domestic borders in response to COVID-19, and then by the slow reopening, according to Mr Westaway.
“Whilst the government has been meritorious in trying to find some stimulatory approaches the difficulty is it’s too narrow and it’s actually left on the sidelines the tourism product,” he said.
Mr Westaway told Sky News cheap airfares “get people excited” but it remains to be seen whether the stimulus will convert to “ongoing economic benefit”.
“We reall