ATEC calls for political parties’ commitment to tourism
Industry seeks clearly articulated pledges needed to help kickstart revival
With a general election looming, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) is calling on all political parties to outline the measures they intend putting in place to help drive the tourism sector’s recovery and rebuild valuable tourism distribution networks.
ATEC managing director, Peter Shelley said with the election now confirmed for May 21, his organisation was calling for strong commitment to the tourism industry and clearly articulated policy platforms with which to support its restart.
“Australia’s export tourism industry has endured two years of debilitating conditions where many businesses simply had no income or vision on when it would end,” he said.
“Now we have our borders open we are seeing the green shoots of recovery, and with export tourism businesses looking to rebuild their markets, this an important time for government focus on investing in getting the industry back on its feet.”
ATEC’s ‘#itstimefortourism campaign: Recover, Rebuild, Regrow’ paper outlines key supports, investments and policy considerations which the industry is calling on all political parties to endorse with four pillars including:
- Restart strong – increasing funding for Tourism Australia, extra funding and better targeting of the EMDG program, visa innovation and subsidies for businesses to attend trade events
- Workforce Resilience – extend the WHM fee waiver, invest in tour guide training and GoWithTourism Australia and more flexible student visas to allow longer working hours.
- Capability – programs to support training and capability building, indigenous product development and building regional capacity.
- Distribution & Innovation – innovations for payment processes, promoting leading edge business practices, itinerary development and sustainability.
“While we rebuild our industry we also have the opportunity to innovate and improve business practices, support a more sustainable industry and create a tourism industry of the future,” Mr Shelley said.
“It’s time for tourism and it’s time for our political parties to recognise the important contribution the tourism export sector, Australia’s largest service export, makes to our economy by supporting these simple but effective requests that will enable tourism businesses across Australia to get back to what they do best.”
Mike Parker-Brown is a UK-trained and qualified journalist and an award-winning travel communicator with more than 30 years experience.
Since 2002, Mike has worked as a freelance writer and PR consultant providing his services to major organisations in Australia and internationally in the tourism, aviation, hospitality, recruitment and export marketing sectors.
