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Add to Preferred SourcesThe Morrison Government’s tourism support and recovery plans, coupled with getting more Australians travelling around Australia, will be critical to the rebound of our tourism industry, with new quarterly data revealing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the height of restrictions.
The latest tourism data from Tourism Research Australia confirmed that international visitation and spend fell by 99 percent in the June quarter. Domestic overnight travel also fell in the June quarter, with spend down 80 percent to $3.9 billion and overnight trips down 67 percent to 10 million.
Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said the June quarterly data which covered the period where restrictions were at their highest right across the nation, showed the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism businesses.
“As part of our plan to support the tourism recovery, we are also providing further targeted assistance to specific sectors within the industry to help them rebound and save as many jobs as possible,” said Minister Birmingham said.
“This includes $250 million support for regional tourism to boost tourism infrastructure investment and help attract more domestic visitors to popular tourism regions. Our $50 million business events program to get meetings, conventions, and conferences up and running again, will also be crucial to the visitor economies of our capital and larger cities.”
Minister Birmingham said national monthly July data also showed some positive signs with tourism spending in the region’s growing by over $1.2 billion on June and visitor nights in regional Australia at their highest since January.
Whilst Australian overall economic support and targeted measures have provided a lifeline for many tourism businesses, the best support for the industry is still getting people travelling around Australia and taking interstate trips.
Original source: DFAT