The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) says it is again harnessing the power of its members with the next stage in its lobbying for more ongoing government support.
AFTA is asking for ongoing support including through an additional $130 Million Round 3 of the COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Programme, or implementation of a Travel Disaster Relief Package based on the East Coast business support program currently running.
AFTA and its members are also calling for wider support until international travel resumes including through the inclusion in the grants program of previously excluded businesses and support for multi-outlet businesses.
The National Mobilisation Campaign will continue to expand over the coming weeks to incorporate lobbying at a State and Territory level as well as ongoing Federal engagement, building on AFTA’s highly successful political engagement to date which has so far secured $258 Million in support.
The AFTA Mobilisation Toolkit is available to Members on the AFTA website.
AFTA Chair Tom Manwaring said, “Australia’s travel agents and businesses have been in hard lockdown since March 2020 and will be after Australia’s international border re-opens”, adding, “We are Australia’s most heavily-impacted sector.”
He added, “We note the Prime Minister’s continuing commitment to supporting those sectors most impacted by COVID”, and “Travel was the first hit and will be the last to recover”, adding, “A third of the experienced professionals, predominantly women, working in our sector have lost their jobs.
“We thank the Government and Federal Tourism Minister the Hon Dan Tehan for the $258 Million COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program received to date but we need ongoing support to protect the remaining 25,000 jobs and 3,000 businesses so we can keep supporting consumers.”
Manwaring said, “We know that having our members share their pleas for support directly with their local Members of Parliament as part of a co-ordinated campaign works. The case studies that our members bring to the table of the value of a travel agent in these times are compelling and impossible to ignore.”
A report by John Alwyn-Jones, Special Correspondent, Travel and Tourism, Global Travel Media.
