Tourism Minister Dan Tehan‘s bright outlook in sector’s darkest hour: vaccination ‘offers travel sector hope’

Tourism Minister Dan Tehan says border openings and bubbles with Singapore, the Pacific Islands and NZ will happen if 80 per cent vaccination rates are reached.

Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan. ‘At the moment tourism is as tough as it has been.’ Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan says travel is experiencing its toughest period yet but border openings and bubbles with Singapore, the Pacific Islands and New Zealand will happen if 80 per cent vaccination rates are reached.

“The next 3-4 months will be trying for all of us but there is still a strong ray of sunshine,” Mr Tehan told the embattled sector on Friday.

“Once we hit that 80 per cent [vaccination] rate by Christmas we will be able to turn the corner.”

However, as lockdowns and border closures continue to draw out he acknowledged local tourism businesses are doing it tough.

“At the moment tourism is as tough as it has been,’’ Mr Tehan said.

“The business relief package is providing support, but it is not flowing through to those areas outside of lockdown, they are feeling the ripple effect, we have to provide support.”

Mr Tehan said Uluru was particularly affected given 94 per cent of guests arrive in the Red Centre by plane. Direct flights to Uluru have plummeted from 43 direct services a week to just three from Brisbane.

Mr Tehan said the federal government acknowledged the ripple effect of the NSW and Victorian lockdowns on traditional tourism centres such as Uluru.

“That’s a stark effect of the lockdowns in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT,” he said.

Having recently returned from a trade mission to Singapore, Japan, the US and South Korea, Mr Tehan said demand remains from international markets to return to Australia.

“I think we are going to see a very strong rebound, so we know what the industry will look like, the plan is there, we need everyone to get that shot in the arm … I am confident the New Year will bring certainty,” he said.

In Uluru, four out of five of the Voyages hotels in the shadow of Uluru remain open but with staff on reduced hours.

Voyages, which is Central Australia’s largest employer with 1100 staff, has sustained an 80 per cent plunge in occupancies at its hotels including the newly refurbished Sails.

Voyages chief executive Matthew Cameron-Smith noted that some guests were arriving by car but when more than 90 per cent of business comes by air from interstate and aviation is cut off he said any business would suffer.

“As part of our Covid recovery (from previous lockdowns) we had direct services from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, they all ceased over peak season,” he said.

“It’s really sad there’s currently no support for workers living in those regions, it’s frustrating there is no support.’’

“It is so hard to recruit in tourism and to have this as a blow now, we have worked incredibly hard to recruit and to have this happen mid high season it’s an incredible blow to tourism.”

Meanwhile, Mr Tehan said work continues on allowing travel bubbles. “Obviously the New Zealand one we had put in place was working successfully. The Pacific Islands and Singapore are very keen for us to do a bubble and I have committed to work being done. The United States is very keen to engage with us, we will be able to get those bubbles in place.”

“But ultimately it will depend on how countries are dealing with the Covid virus,” he said, adding that there was also still very strong demand from Chinese wanting to travel here.

“We would welcome Chinese tourists back to Australia once we have this pandemic fixed

“We have a diverse supply of tourists coming to Australia, we want to see Chinese tourism return to the levels we were seeing before the pandemic.”

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison added forward bookings from Australia’s top 15 international markets were at 30 per cent of pre Covid demand. “We know people want to travel,” she said.

Ms Harrison said spend recovered in April and May prior to the second round of lockdowns. She said domestic spending was 7 per cent higher in April and 9 per cent higher in May compared with pre-Covid levels of domestic spending.

“(But) we know we have a tough couple of months to go, we have clarity that this is not going away, (given) the two largest domestic markets are in lockdown.”

She said the only pathway out of this was vaccination and launched a new Tourism Australia initiative encouraging people to get vaccinated. Ms Harrison said the lure of travel and the opportunity to support an industry which employs one in 13 Australians was a strong incentive.

Meanwhile, NRMA Expeditions chief executive Rachel Wiseman told the industry that the motoring organisation, one of the largest tourism operators in Australia, was looking to continue to invest in tourism and was eyeing opportunities in Tasmania and NSW in particular.

“When it (tourism) comes back, it comes back hard and fast, it did last time and it will again,” Ms Wiseman said.