BRINGING BUSINESS events back to Brisbane is the focus of a funding package announced this week by Brisbane Economic Development Agency (Brisbane EDA).

Brisbane EDA general manager of tourism, business and major events, Juliet Alabaster said providing support to attract more business events back to the city was key for the economic recovery of the events industry. Applications are now open, she said.

“As part of our wider ‘Brisbane. Even Better with You’ campaign, we are offering event planners and businesses a cash incentive to make it easier for them to choose Brisbane for their next face-to-face conference or incentive event,” Ms Alabaster said. 

“This funding can be used to either deliver an enhanced delegate experience through an upgraded event program, or contribute to reducing the overall cost of their event as some welcome budget relief.”

Ms Alabaster encouraged event planners to reach out, get free advice, and find out more about the exceptional experience Brisbane can give delegates.

“Brisbane is a fantastic city, with our warm weather, vibrant open-air restaurants, world-class venues and cultural attractions and outstanding hotels to choose from,” Ms Alabaster said.

“We know our local industry has experienced incredibly challenging conditions the past year and we want to provide a helping hand to encourage more Brisbane business events bookings -- to boost our local economy and support our local businesses, accommodation providers and our service industry.

“We want to instil confidence in event planners that Brisbane is ready to host their next event, and they can expect our signature warm welcome when they do.”

The package includes funding of $50 per person for eligible business events held between March 2021 and December 2022 and must be booked at a Brisbane venue by June 30, 2021.

Apply at choosebrisbane.com.au/conventions.

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THE Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has welcomed the Federal Government's Consumer Travel Support Program's range of support measures for travel and tourism, "particularly those focused on safeguarding the future of the beleaguered tourism export sector" -- but warns it is "not the perfect support package".

The Accommodation Association said while programs will support many tourism regions which were hard hit by bushfires and then the subsequent shut downs, "unfortunately the package does not support our two major international gateways of Sydney and Melbourne". 

The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) said it would continue to work with the Federal Government to ensure that the extension of the COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program provides support to those travel businesses who most need it.

According to ATEC, although many operators were unlikely to receive a direct benefit, tourism businesses across the country indicated they would potentially benefit from some measures, especially those in regional and remote areas as well as vital supply chain distributors.

"The challenge export tourism businesses face is staying afloat until international borders reopen. With JobKeeper off the table, the ability to retain staff while revenue is at an all-time low will be very difficult," ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said.   

“The past 12 months has seen many tourism businesses with little or no income and many would have already gone to the wall without the JobKeeper support. On the positive the package will deliver much needed support to regions dependent on international visitors with the flight subsidy program and other measures aimed at supporting and re-invigorating key destinations.

“The extension of the Travel Agents grants program will be critical for the commercial survival of the inbound tour operator businesses which have underpinned the success of our inbound tourism industry for the past 50 years by being the primary distribution channel for international visitors travelling to Australia," Mr Shelley said.

“The loan scheme will also provide an important safety net for many businesses but there will still be countless operators making the tough decision to shed valuable skilled employees without the continuation of JobKeeper. It’s critical state governments recognise the importance of their borders remaining open and all governments commit to a tourism restart timeline which is vital to the survival of thousands of small tourism businesses across the country.

“The next step will be to see our international visitors back but while the date remains uncertain, our export tourism businesses will continue to need support and this package will go some way in helping them continue their scaled-down operations," he said.

“It is vital these businesses survive through until our borders open so they can help the industry quickly reconnect with international visitors and start to sell these regional tourism products to overseas guests.

“I think we all agree it’s an imperfect package, but we welcome the components which support the valuable $45 billion inbound tourism sector. The concern shared by many is will it be enough to support businesses reliant on international tourism which continues to have an uncertain restart date."

Accomodating the challenges

According to the Accommodation Association, bith the Sydney and Melbourne markets currently have a forward booking rate of less than 10 percent for the next 90 days.

Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long said, "For Sydney and Melbourne, where 80 percent of the market is from international and corporate markets which are still not operating due to government restrictions, the lack of support in this package will result in a loss of jobs and slow our recovery once borders are open.  

“Our hotels in these two major international gateways currently have a forward booking rate of less than 10 percent for the next 90 days and desperately need immediate support," he said.

“Our workforce is highly skilled and the government has not provided the support for our skilled chefs, waiters, revenue managers and duty managers in the same way as they have for airlines. This means it will have a dramatic negative impact once international borders open and we don’t have the team members to provide the high service levels they demand.

“Loans are only helpful when you have a level of certainty of revenue to service debts and a clear strategy to keep the economy open. Without this, Australia’s accommodation businesses can’t take on new debit even if banks are prepared to lend to them.

“The Accommodation Association will be making urgent representations to the Federal Government for additional support to ensure our important Sydney and Melbourne accommodation sectors get the support so urgently needed," Mr Long said.
 
Mr Long said in order to preserve a base from which the tourism and accommodation sectors can rebuild, the Accommodation Association’s Pre-Budget submission also seeks a range of urgent support measures including:

• Support workers of the Accommodation Sector so they are treated the same as airlines;
• Implementation of a consistent national health strategy to manage virus outbreaks without closing state borders to restore confidence in interstate travel;
• The creation of a level playing field through the introduction of a sharing economy third-party reporting regime in FY21/22 which requires sharing economy platforms to report to the ATO for data matching purposes;
• Development of a clear national plan to open international borders that has State and Territory commitment.

AFTA goes to bat for travel agents

AFTA Chair Tom Manwaring said while the details of the Federal Government’s tourism and aviation $1.2 billion recovery package were still to be released, the support "is a very welcome and much needed injection for a sector on its knees"

He said  Tourism Minister Dan Tehan confirmed at the launch media conference that an additional $128 million would be added to the $128 million COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program. 

AFTA has asked the Federal Government to anchor the additional support within a framework that is relevant to agency costs and promotes the retention of key expertise within the sector.

“Our sector which relies almost entirely on international travel slammed to a shut in February last year," Mr Manwarring said. "Nine out of 10 travel businesses have been surviving on a decline in revenue of 90 percent since then and most businesses have experienced at least a 70 percent decline.

“Without ongoing support, our sector will be decimated, leaving Australian consumers with nowhere to turn to assist with the estimated $4 billion in refunds from global airlines, hotels and tour operators. Collapse of our sector will also leave the country without the skill set to support the COVID minefield of travel once the international border is liberated.

“Without tailored support we will see eight in 10 people still working in travel out of a job, and three in 10 businesses having to close with a further 52 percent uncertain about their future. We all understand the urgency and critical nature of resolving this.” 

AFTA CEO Darren Rudd said, "“The ongoing refinement of the COVID-19 support package to ensure equitable distribution of funds across the breadth of our sector is continuing as a priority and AFTA will keep on working daily with Austrade to make sure support gets to where it is so desperately needed. This is our major priority.”

A recent survey of 1513 AFTA members showed:

• 67% are small and medium retail leisure agencies;
• 94% are dealing with a decline in revenue of 90% (with 99% experiencing at least a 70% decline);
• 80% of the workforce of travel agents businesses are women;
• 81% of all travel businesses’ work is helping customers with COVID-impacted travel – there is still $4 Billion in refunds and credits which travel agents are working to repatriate from international airlines, hotels and tour operators on behalf of Australian consumers on top of the $6 billion already secured;
• 43% believe they are unlikely to return to profit until 2023.

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THE Accommodation Association is supportive of the Victorian Government support measures announced today, saying they would provide "much needed relief for hotels, motels and accommodation providers hit hard by the state’s COVID restrictions, snap shutdowns and border closures"

Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long said, “On behalf of Victoria’s hotels, motels and accommodation providers, we welcome this acknowledgment from the State Government of the devastating impact of its coronavirus circuit-breaker strategy and look forward to continuing to work closely to get the balance right in successfully managing the risk. 

“Hotels and motels simply aren’t businesses that can stop and start suddenly," Mr Long said. "This most recent shutdown ahead of the Valentine Day weekend, one of the busiest times of the year, came after most dining and bar facilities and hotels had stocked up in anticipation.

"It would be great to get to the point where we had greater transparency around the decision frameworks all State and Territory Governments are using, including Victoria, so that we can appropriately plan.”

Mr Long said the Accommodation Association continued to work closely with Victoria’s Tourism Industry Council to ensure the tourism industry would receive support to offset the impact of Government-mandated closures.
 
The $143 million Circuit Breaker Support Package consists of:

1. A new $92 million Business Costs Assistance Program with grants of $2000 for businesses in the tourism, hospitality, food wholesaling, events and selected retail industries with an annual payroll of up to $3 million;
2. A $24.9 million boost to the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund which will see previous recipients receive a one-off $3000 payment per premises;
3. The $16.2 million Victorian Accommodation Support Program which recognises the hit of cancellations on regional and metropolitan accommodation providers allowing providers with 10 and under cancellations to apply for $2250 per business and those with more than 10 cancellations to apply for $4500 per business;
4. A $10 million injection to expand the Regional Travel Voucher Scheme to include a new Melbourne Travel Voucher with 40,000 vouchers for $200 for travel in greater Melbourne plus an additional 10,000 vouchers in regional Victoria.

The Accommodation Association represents close to 3,500 hotels, motels and accommodation providers, over 150,000 rooms and nearly 100,000 employees across Australia (pre COVID) and over 500 operators in Victoria. Mr Long said accommodation contributed $17 billion to the Australian economy and $1.5 billion to the Victorian economy.

www.aaoa.com.au

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DOMESTIC TRAVEL has replaced less than 20 percent of the revenue received from international visitors, with most export tourism businesses reliant on the JobKeeper supplement to get them this far, according to the Australian Tourism Export Council’s (ATEC) industry Pulse Check taken in January.

With borders closed and export tourism businesses unable to access their international markets, 60 percent are running at less than 50 percent of their staff and service capacity, with most only surviving with the support of the JobKeeper supplement.

“Australian tourism businesses have hung on with the support of JobKeeper but face annihilation once the program ends next month if the government fails to provide further support,” ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said. The JobKeeper program is scheduled to wrap up at the end of March.

“Australia’s tourism industry has spent the past 12 months battling enormous setbacks, from bushfires to floods and the COVID crisis which has closed international borders and left tourism businesses with no customers,” Mr Shelley said.

ATEC is now calling on the Federal Government to provide further financial support to the tourism industry and specifically the export tourism businesses which are unable to operate at anywhere near their previous levels.

“Tourism businesses were optimistic that by now international borders would be open and they would be seeing visitors return, but all indications are that these businesses face yet another tough year," he said. 

“State and Territory governments need to provide certainty in the way they respond to COVID outbreaks and a clear path to reopening international travel that appropriately manages the health risk and effective roll out of vaccines in order to give our industry certainty into the future.”

The export tourism industry Pulse Check looked at how Australia’s export tourism businesses have fared over the past 12 months.

The report found that around 60 percent of tourism businesses were running at less than 50 percent of staff and service capacity.

About 75 percent of tourism businesses have been able to supplement some of their revenue with domestic visitors, and this spend represents less than 20 percent of income lost from overseas visitors.

ATEC research shows about 55 percent of tourism businesses will not survive until September without some kind of government support, while international borders remain closed.

About 95 percent of inbound tour operators (ITOs), who are key tourism export intermediaries, have revenue of less than 10 percent compared with 2019.

Furthermore, 50 percent of ITOs are unable to attract domestic business and for those who have this represents less than 10 percent of their international markets.

ATEC predicts about 80 percent of ITOs "will be gone by September" without some kind of government support, making it much harder for the inbound tourism industry to restart.

 “Through no fault of their own, successful tourism businesses from across the country have been decimated by a series of setbacks that culminated with the international border closures," Mr Shelley said.
 
“These are the same businesses which were instrumental in delivering $45 billion in export revenue in 2019 and delivering thousands of jobs to regional communities throughout the country and they will be the ones which will provide future jobs and economic prosperity.
 
“Given the success of our export tourism industry over the past decade which saw international visitors contributing more than $350 billion in our economy, we must ensure these businesses survive," he said.
 
“Once the borders reopen, these businesses will quickly rebound and once again contribute significantly to our export earnings, support regional economies and build back Australian jobs.”

www.atec.net.au

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