3 years ago
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA NEEDS TOURISM JOBS PLAN NOW
SENATOR DON FARRELL
The need for a clear plan for the future of regional tourism in Australia has today been highlighted by new statistics showing what our regions have to lose from the impacts of COVID-19.
Tourism Research Australia’s Regional Tourism Satellite Accounts demonstrate the importance of the sector to regional communities where tourism has created more jobs and driven more economic activity in recent years.
Across Australia, tourism contributes around $100 billion to our GDP and provides jobs for more than one million Australians.
But despite the obvious and significant hit the sector has taken in the past six months, the Morrison Government still has no clear plan to support the recovery of tourism in Australia.
These latest figures highlight the number of jobs in our regions left at risk because of the Government’s refusal to outline how it will support the industry’s recovery.
In the Blue Mountains, tourism accounts for 11.3 per cent employment, with around 5000 people employed in the sector both directly and indirectly.
In Launceston and the north of Tasmania, it is 7.6 per cent, or about 8000 jobs, are in tourism.
On South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, 3000 people are employed by the sector – 7.7 per cent.
What these communities need from Scott Morrison and Simon Birmingham is a plan for supporting the tourism sector through the impacts of the pandemic to protect jobs and create new ones into the future.
But instead of a jobs plan, the Morrison Government are winding back JobKeeper, cutting wages, cutting super, freezing the pension and seeking to shift the blame instead of taking responsibility.
Regional tourism businesses and the Australians they employ deserve much better.
Tourism Research Australia’s Regional Tourism Satellite Accounts demonstrate the importance of the sector to regional communities where tourism has created more jobs and driven more economic activity in recent years.
Across Australia, tourism contributes around $100 billion to our GDP and provides jobs for more than one million Australians.
But despite the obvious and significant hit the sector has taken in the past six months, the Morrison Government still has no clear plan to support the recovery of tourism in Australia.
These latest figures highlight the number of jobs in our regions left at risk because of the Government’s refusal to outline how it will support the industry’s recovery.
In the Blue Mountains, tourism accounts for 11.3 per cent employment, with around 5000 people employed in the sector both directly and indirectly.
In Launceston and the north of Tasmania, it is 7.6 per cent, or about 8000 jobs, are in tourism.
On South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, 3000 people are employed by the sector – 7.7 per cent.
What these communities need from Scott Morrison and Simon Birmingham is a plan for supporting the tourism sector through the impacts of the pandemic to protect jobs and create new ones into the future.
But instead of a jobs plan, the Morrison Government are winding back JobKeeper, cutting wages, cutting super, freezing the pension and seeking to shift the blame instead of taking responsibility.
Regional tourism businesses and the Australians they employ deserve much better.