Tourism industry leader Barry Robinson has called for government funded digital vouchers to boost domestic travel, for borders to be re-opened permanently as quickly as possible and for state health systems to work more closely together.
Mr Robinson, the President and Managing Director, International Operations, for Wyndham Vacation Clubs, said tourism is bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 impact and what the industry’s small and medium businesses need most urgently are paying customers and open borders.
“The federal budget provided funding for tourism infrastructure, selected businesses and marketing dollars, along with a consumer tax reduction, but what it needed to do was provide a more direct motivation or incentive for people to travel. That would arguably benefit the nation’s mental health at this time, while providing domestic tourism businesses with the shot in the arm they need,” said Mr Robinson.
“Small and medium businesses are the lifeblood of tourism and cannot live in hibernation mode much longer. It is the eateries, tour operators and activity and experience providers who often make a destination memorable for travellers and, if they do not get the paying customers they need, some of the nation’s favourite destinations may change drastically.”
Mr Robinson urged all levels of government to consider digital vouchers, like those given to all adult Singaporeans over the age of 18 to use on staycations or leisure attractions. Tasmania also recently gave families vouchers for accommodation and experiences within the state in an attempt to improve local travel spending.
“Some states are finalising their budgets and we would urge them to investigate this way to get their constituents at least utilising tourism businesses in their states. This spending needs to be available for use in a broad array of areas as some people – timeshare owners, for example – have already paid for their accommodation and will use their money on local experiences and vendors instead.”
Mr Robinson also said states must re-open their borders as soon as possible and have their health systems work more closely together in the future.
“The hard state borders we have seen in recent months have prevented the free flow of travellers and have damaged tourism. We cannot have a situation in the future where borders close during every flare-up of COVID-19. All levels of government need to work together to contain any clusters where they occur,” he said.
Wyndham Vacation Clubs is the timeshare arm of Wyndham Destinations (NYSE: WYND), the world’s largest vacation ownership and exchange company. Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests in Club Wyndham South Pacific, the region’s leading timeshare club with almost 60,000 timeshare owners.
.jpg){kind=tracking}
