Kim Tran, Allied Travel Bankstown agent calls for financial support from coronavirus fallout
A Bankstown travel agent has joined a band of cohorts in the industry calling for a $125 million support package to support the embattled industry.
The Express
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Allied Travel Bankstown owner Kim Tran has joined a band of travel agents calling for a $125 million support package to support the embattled industry.
The Bankstown agent had to close her shopfront at Chapel Rd South and operate from home after the coronavirus banned non-essential travel.
She was forced to find a casual job until mid July and came close to selling her house, for which she and her husband are paying off.
The mother has secured $23,000 through government grants to assist her and an accountant at the agency but says another stimulus package is needed.
“I’ve got a mortgage to pay and everything adds up and it’s quite hard,’’ she said.
“I have all these bills I need to pay and one income is not enough. It’s quite stressful.’’
Despite domestic travel starting to bounce back, that is little consolation to Mrs Tran, whose clients predominantly travel to Asia and Europe.
“Plus I don’t know if the customer has the confidence to travel again because we don’t have a vaccine,’’ she said.
The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) is calling on the government to pump $125 million into supporting the nation’s 4000 agents and their 40,000 employees.
The industry adds $28 billion to the economy each year but there are fears 25 per cent of agencies will close if pleas for financial support are ignored.
By comparison, the federal government has allocated $688 million for builders via the HomeBuilder scheme, $250 million for arts and entertainment, $400 million for film and television and $1.1 billion for aviation.
AFTA says there is a demand for support — in 2019, Australian residents undertook 11.3 million outbound international trips, compared with 3.1 million in New Zealand.
However, the New Zealand government announced a $47.6 million support package for travel agents in September.
Seventy per cent of international trips are booked through travel agents and Aussies spent more than $46 billion on worldwide travel.
A total of 72 per cent of businesses are small, family owned operations.