Coronavirus: Added financial support on cards for hard-hit tourism industry

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is considering additional economic measures in the May budget in aid of Australia’s tourism industry.

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham in Cairns on Monday. Picture: Peter Carruthers

Scott Morrison is considering extra economic measures in the May budget to support Australia’s tourism industry, with businesses facing imminent closure and mass job losses as the COVID-19 outbreak cripples international and domestic visitor markets.

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham attended a roundtable meeting in Cairns on Monday speaking with 35 tourism industry leaders and operators facing a $1bn hit to north Queensland’s $3.5bn visitor economy.

Senator Birmingham, who will meet tourism chiefs on the Gold Coast on Tuesday, was told of the urgent need to keep workers in jobs and support cashflow for businesses as north Queensland faces an exodus of tourists and major events.

After the Prime Minister last week expressed “concern” about the economic impacts on north Queensland, Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen said they had lost their key international travel ­period and were heading into the beginning of “our prime domestic travel period”.

“The crossover of those two for the region is significant,” Mr Olsen told The Australian.

He said they were now predicting the economic impact, which was already affected by the bushfire disaster, would remain for a minimum six-month period and threaten up to 4000 jobs.

Mr Olsen said extended global travel bans and the federal government’s announcement of quarantining measures to stop the spread of the virus would impose a “dramatic” impact for the region.

Senator Birmingham, who is in charge of the government’s $1bn regions and communities fund announced in last week’s $17.6bn stimulus package, has been warned of job losses as COVID-19 cripples the tourism sector.

The Australian Tourism Export Council said the government’s new isolation rules for arrivals in Australia meant the “inbound tourism industry has effectively been shut down”.

“The damage to our inbound tourism sector across Australia will deliver a significant blow to Australia’s economy and with more than 600,000 people ­employed in tourism jobs, that will have a dramatic flow-on to ­employment,” ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said.

“Australia’s tourism industry is falling from a great high that has been a big part of our economic success over the past 10 years.”

Senator Birmingham said visitor numbers were “plummeting and falling off the cliff” and he wasn’t underestimating the “impact this has for tourism businesses, especially in regions like tropical north Queensland”.

“This is going to go on for some time and I fear it will get worse ­before it gets better,” he said.

Following the meeting with north Queensland tourism operators, Senator Birmingham said: “People have already told me about job losses, about loss of hours, about the pressure on their businesses, and I know that is only going to continue. We have to plan for the recovery because the recovery will come and we need to make sure that critical tourism businesses are still here.”