Travel industry coronavirus: No Roads Expeditions crippled by pandemic
A Mordialloc father-of-four who gave up his job as a firefighter to pursue his dream of hosting adventures across the world has called for a vital funding injection into Australia’s travel industry, which has been brought to its knees by the pandemic.
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A Mordialloc-based travel guide whose business has been rocked by COVID-19 says a $125 million government support package is crucial for the industry’s survival.
No Roads Expeditions owner Peter Miller has been running dream adventures across the state and overseas for 17 years but has not made a sale since March.
The ex-firefighter of 22 years now faces changing his children's school as he pushes to provide pay checks for his staff in Melbourne, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Nepal.
Mr Miller is also set to start a fundraiser for one of his Indonesia-based kayak guides so they can start growing corn to generate an income.
The guides were forced to return their rural villages as the tourism industry imploded.
“Our industry was the first industry that was closed … we have nothing to sell, it’s not like we’re a restaurant where we can do takeaway,” he told the Leader.
“JobKeeper is there for 30 to 100 per cent drop in revenue … if I had a 30 per cent drop in revenue, I would be happy.
“(Australian) staff are on JobKeeper, one’s already left and one’s not working at all … others are just doing 18 hours a week … we can’t sustain this.”
The Australian Federation of Travel Agents is calling on the government to bankroll a $125 million support package to help the country’s 4000 travel agencies.
Australia’s travel industry employs 40,000 people and contributes $28 billion each year to the economy, and 70 per cent of international travel is booked through agents, according to information provided by AFTA.
The majority of travel agencies are small, family owned businesses, and AFTA estimates up to a quarter will close as a result of the economic fallout from the virus.
The industry hasn’t received any support outside of the standard coronavirus support packages offered to all businesses such as JobKeeper and Jobseeker.
In contrast, other industries have received hundreds of millions of dollars in monetary relief, including builders through the home builder scheme ($688 million), Arts and entertainment ($250 million), film and television ($400 million), and aviation ($1.1 billion).
brittany.goldsmith@news.com.au
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