A fully vaccinated population is what Tourism Australia deem the number one priority in restimulating the tourism sector and economy. This comes as a report released today revealed the nation lost almost $80 billion in tourism revenue last year.
A tourism stakeholder event held at Parliament House in Canberra today highlighted the Value of Tourism report, compiled by Tourism Australia and Deloittes, and its most damning data.
The data shows the nation lost almost $80 billion in tourism revenue in 2020, with 7.6 million fewer international arrivals, 45 million fewer domestic overnight trips and 84 million fewer day trips compared to the year before.
More than 665,000 Australians were directly employed in tourism in 2018-2019 (one in 20 working Australians). Indirect “flow on” tourism activity supports a further 370,000 jobs around the country.
Australia’s regions have twice the proportion of jobs in tourism than the major cities, and 44 cents of every tourism dollar is spent in regional destinations.
Chris Watson owner and manager of Chris Watson Travel Tamworth said that $80 billion is a huge loss to the economy.
“I would be encouraging people that feel safe enough and that want to, to go out and get the vaccine and help keep our Australian economy on track”.
Tourism Australia believe state and territory border closures are the single biggest factor that negatively impact consumer confidence to travel.
Chris Watson said “It would be a great step in the right direction to have people getting vaccinated to help the tourism industry as well as the greater economy.