Coronavirus: Tourists spent $6bn less in Australia in the March quarter compared to 2019

Australia’s tourism industry lost nearly $6bn in just three months as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, new government data reveals.

Domestic and international tourists in Australia spent $6bn less in the March quarter compared to the same time last year. Picture: Richard Jupe

Australia’s tourism industry lost nearly $6bn in just three months as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, government data reveals, as business leaders and unions demand urgent support for the sector and aviation workers.

Figures to be released on Wednesday show domestic tourists spent $1.9bn less in the March quarter compared with the same time last year, a drop of 10 per cent, while spending by inter­national tourists was down $3.9bn or 27 per cent.

Tourism Research Australia data also finds international tourism numbers fell by 28 per cent in the March quarter compared with the same period in 2019; domestic tourism visitors fell by 18 per cent.

The June quarter, covering the three months from April, is expected to be much worse.

In the year ending March 2020, Australia’s top five inter­national markets recorded a decline in visitor numbers and spend compared with the previous year.

The largest drop in inter­national visitors came from the Chinese market — down 19 per cent to 1.1 million people spending 15 per cent less, or $10.2bn — after flights from China were suspended from February.

Tourism Australia will ramp up its domestic marketing campaigns in the months ahead to encourage travel at home in a bid to gain some of the $65bn Australians spent overseas last year.

“With our international borders expected to remain closed for the foreseeable future, our priority is getting Australians travelling to parts where we have successfully suppressed the spread of COVID-19,” Trade and Tourism Minister Simon Birm­ingham said.

“As some state borders begin to open up in the next few weeks, the best thing that can happen for our tourism industry right now is for people to make bookings and undertake trips to regions where it is safe to do so, because this will help save a small business or the job of a fellow Australian.”

Unions joined Virgin and six other aviation companies on Tuesday in calling for an extension of JobKeeper for the sector beyond September, until “domestic and international borders are phased open, confidence in aviation returns and flying returns to normal”.

Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron said the trans-Tasman travel bubble should begin without Victoria because waiting until coronavirus infections in the state were under control would guarantee more job losses and businesses going broke.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she was open to a travel bubble with individual Australian states as long as they had their own border ­controls.

“It’s a desperate situation. I employ fewer staff than Qantas or Virgin but where is Qantas going to fly now they’ve lost the third-busiest route in the world, Melbourne to Sydney? This is a crisis,” Mr Byron said.

“We accept on health grounds that Victoria’s quite rightly been shut, but the health advice is that it’s clear between Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s safe, so we ought to do it.”

Senator Birmingham is not considering a trans-Tasman travel bubble that excludes Victoria, saying the government’s focus was on getting the situation in that state under control.

“We are continuing discussions with New Zealand about how a bubble could work,” he said.

Tourism Research Australia, which is located within Austrade, said the impact of COVID-19 on international tourism started to take hold in February and escalated in March as Australia closed its borders.

Domestic travel in the year to March 2020 increased despite the drought, bushfires and corona­virus, with Australians spending $78.8bn on overnight travel, up 6 per cent on the previous year, with the number of overnight trips taken up 3 per cent to 112.3 million. Australians spent 405 million nights away from home.