Travel industry facing collapse amid COVID-19 crisis

Many Australian businesses have buckled under the weight of COVID-19, with fears one of the country’s crucial industries could be next.

Many Australian businesses have buckled under the weight of the COVID-19 crisis, with fears one of the country’s crucial industries could be next.

A national survey conducted by Small Business Australia found up to 40,000 people in the travel industry are on the verge of losing their jobs.

The survey found just one in 10 travel agents will survive beyond April 1 without ongoing assistance from the government, the Herald Sun reports.

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There are concerns the travel industry will be impacted after the JobKeeper payments are cut. Picture: Christian Gilles

Border closures and travel caps have hit the travel industry hard, with 90 per cent of businesses indicating they will be forced to close after April 1 unless there is an extension of the government’s JobKeeper scheme.

Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang told the publication that the results of the survey were “frightening”.

“We are talking here of some 2600 businesses going out of business, some 30,000 plus jobs lost and the extinction of an entire industry, many of which were good trading and successful businesses pre-pandemic, who have through no fault of their own will be sent to the wall by government health policy, inaction and incompetence,” he said.

The travel industry, including aviation, has been hit hard amid the pandemic. Picture: AAP Image/James Gourley.

Mr Lang said immediate action from the government was needed to stop the industry going under.

In a survey of hundreds of agents conducted late in 2020, as reported by Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell, 98 per cent reported their revenue had dropped by more than 75 per cent since COVID restrictions began in March.

Australia has approved the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, allowing the first jabs to be rolled out from late February instead of the middle of the month, beginning with frontline hotel quarantine workers.

Speaking to Traveller,the manager of Cherrybrook Travel said the overall impact of the pandemic on the industry as been devastating.

“The impact is we have no business,” says Liz Ellis, who has been running the travel agency in Sydney’s north-west since 1987.

Travel agents say the industry is facing hardships.

“When it all started we thought it was bit doom and gloom but this is okay, international borders are shut but we can manage domestically. And then all the state borders closed, so we stopped taking bookings, then they reopened and then you get COVID hot spots and it’s now turning out to be worse than we ever expected. I’ve got one client who booked and cancelled their holiday three times. People lose confidence.”

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved the Pfizer vaccine for Australians aged 16 and over, the government announced this morning.

Frontline workers and health workers will be the first to be vaccinated before attention turns to aged care staff, seniors and other vulnerable communities.

The two-dose regimen could not be imported into Australia until it was approved by the TGA and today’s announcement means millions of doses of the drug can now be shipped from overseas.

When it arrives, a rapid phase of final batch testing will commence before the rollout begins.