It appears that Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg met with more than 30 CEOs of Australia’s supposedly biggest businesses and industry representatives but travel and tourism were hardly represented.
The purpose of the meeting was to explore ways in which business can help get Aussies vaccinated faster, although, even with travel and tourism a highly significant business in Australia and its multiple sectors arguably the hardest hit by COVID-19, it came as a surprise to many that the only representatives of travel and tourism and all its sectors, were the CEO’s of two airlines and the Australian Hotels Association, that is Alan Joyce, CEO of QANTAS, Jayne Hrdlicka, CEO of Virgin Australia) and Stephen Ferguson CEO of the Australian Hotels Association, whose majority of members are pubs, with the three hardly representative of the travel and tourism industry and all its sectors.
So, no accommodation leaders, no cruise leaders, no tourism attractions leaders, no tour operator leaders, no coach company leaders, no airport operations leaders, no travel agency operation leaders…need I go on?
The purpose of the meeting it appears was to discuss how the attendees can help speed up the vaccine rollout, including incentives and potentially using regional hotels as vaccination hubs, with relatively newly appointed coordinator general of the COVID vaccine task force general John Frewen, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly and the secretary of the federal Treasury, Dr Steven Kennedy also there.
After the meeting, Frydenberg’s office said issues such as transport, logistics, premises, community engagement as well as communications were among the discussion, adding, what is seen by many to be a rather lacklustre statement that recognises the government’s rollout failure, in that, “It was agreed by all members present that businesses will write to all their workers about the importance of being vaccinated and in some cases will be reaching out to the customer base.”
In what is considered a rather brave assumption without consultation with others, Hrdlicka is reported as saying that big employers have the ability to set up vaccination programs quickly and would welcome the opportunity to be able to vaccinate as much of their workforce as quickly as possible, adding, “Having large employers run vaccination programs would take pressure off the government, get a large number of people vaccinated in a short period of time, and bring private sector efficiencies and capabilities into the equation”
She also quite rightly called for better public education campaigns about the vaccine, to help people understand the safety and efficacy of each of the vaccine choices”, adding, “There is too much misinformation and misguided fear around vaccination, and it is time to fix that,” and “Virgin Australia would be happy to support an education campaign which helps to explain the merits, the safety, and the importance of vaccination and helps the Australian community to make a properly informed choice.”
Frydenberg is reported to have said that said many businesses have offered premises for vaccine hubs, including Wesfarmers offering to provide jabs at Bunnings Warehouse and Office Works, but it is not known if the CEO of Wesfarmers was present.
AHA CEO Stephen Ferguson raised the possibility of using hotels [he means pubs] in remote areas as future vaccine hubs, as well as encouraging staff and customers to get the jab, adding, “The rollout and take-up of the vaccine is critical to hospitality, accommodation and tourism being able to open their doors and keep them open”.
Frydenberg is also reported to have said that in terms of examples of incentives, airlines offering frequent flyer points, adding that incentives on offer would be what sounded like a dig at Bunnings, “more than a snag at Bunnings”, with QANTAS in May saying it would reward those who get vaccinated with Frequent Flyer points, flight vouchers or Frequent Flyer status upgrades and Virgin having revealed a national competition that would offer fully vaccinated Aussies the chance to win tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of prizes, dozens of free business-class flights and one lucky Australian will become a Velocity Frequent Flyer Points millionaire, with the competition sadly not open for some time!
Frewen said more incentives would be on offer later in the year, adding, “When it comes to incentives, right now, the key message is that vaccinations is the right thing to do and people should be getting out and getting vaccinated, [GTM: uhh many of us we know that, but many will not do it!] and I think industry have committed to supporting us in that messaging,” but many are saying that with such poor representation invited from the travel and tourism industry it is not anticipated many from the travel and tourism industry will be joining the programme.
In reality many also consider this type of activity as playing around very much at the periphery of the real issues and also a weak attempt by the Federal Government to cover their rollout debacle and disastrous relationship with Pfizer, with also in reality, the government should be providing the incentives to be vaccinated.
One incentive placed on the table to me by a well-known travel and tourism industry leader being significant immediate cash in hand tax breaks for those vaccinated.
How good would that be and most certainly it would be a significant and highly effective incentive.
An opinion and report by John Alwyn-Jones, Special Correspondent Travel and Tourism Global Travel Media.
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