While the Federal Government’s tourism and aviation recovery program will support many tourism regions which were hard hit by bushfires and then the subsequent shut downs, unfortunately the package does not support our two major international gateways of Sydney and Melbourne.Both markets currently have a forward booking rate of less than 10% for the next 90 days.
Key stats:
- The Accommodation Association represents close to 3,500 hotels, over 150,000 rooms and employed nearly 100,000 people across Australia (this is unfortunately now down to 58,000).
- Prior to the closure of the international and state borders, the accommodation industry contributed $17 billion to the Australian economy
Quotes from Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long (available for interview)
“For Sydney and Melbourne where 80% of the market is from international and corporate markets which are still not operating due to Government restrictions, the lack of support in this package will result in a loss of jobs and slow our recovery once borders are open.”
“Our hotels in these two major international gateways currently have a forward booking rate of less than 10% for the next 90 days and desperately need immediate support.”
“Our workforce is highly skilled and the Government has not provided the support for our skilled chefs, waiters, revenue managers and duty managers in the same way as they have for airlines. This means it will have a dramatic negative impact once international borders open and we don’t have the team members to provide the high service levels they demand.”
“Loans are only helpful when you have a level of certainty of revenue to service debts and a clear strategy to keep the economy open. Without this, Australia’s accommodation businesses can’t take on new debit even if banks are prepared to lend to them.”
“The Accommodation Association will be making urgent representations to the Federal Government for additional support to ensure our important Sydney and Melbourne accommodation sectors get the support so urgently needed.”
Pre-Budget submission
In order to preserve a base from which the tourism and accommodation sectors can rebuild, the Accommodation Association’s Pre-Budget submission also seeks a range of urgent support measures including:
- Support workers of the Accommodation Sector so they are treated the same as airlines.
- Implementation of a consistent national health strategy to manage virus outbreaks without closing state borders to restore confidence in interstate travel;
- The creation of a level playing field through the introduction of a sharing economy third-party reporting regime in FY21/22 which requires sharing economy platforms to report to the ATO for data matching purposes;
- Development of a clear national plan to open international borders that has State and Territory commitment.
