Portfolio Media

New report predicts 29,000 tourism jobs will go under Labor

28 April 2009

The peak industry group for Australian tourism has estimated 29,000 tourism jobs will be lost partly due to Kevin Rudd’s lack of support for the tourism sector in the current economic environment, Shadow Tourism Minister Steven Ciobo said.

The Australian Tourism and Transport Forum’s (TTF) new report, Australian Tourism and the Recession, has recommended a Federal Government tourism recovery strategy and opposes Labor’s extra tourism taxes and charges.

“The Rudd Labor Government has pretended to be a friend of tourism, but instead, has shown complete disregard for one of Australia’s biggest employers and introduced an additional $1 billion of tourism taxes and charges, including the Passenger Movement Charge,” Mr Ciobo said.

“Tourism is staring down the barrel at 29,000 job losses at a time when the Government’s focus should be on keeping Australians employed. These tourism job losses will be hung around the necks of Mr Rudd and Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson.

“This TTF report confirms Labor’s scatter gun approach to tourism policy will cost Australian jobs and see tens of thousands of fewer workers in hotels, restaurants and airlines.

“There is no doubt the global recession has led to a slowdown in Australian tourism, but there is also no doubt the Rudd Labor Government’s lack of tourism policy has exacerbated the problems facing tourism businesses.

“We’ve seen Labor introduce a string of extra tourism taxes and charges including the Passenger Movement Charge which was increased from $38 to $47 last year – at the worst possible time for the struggling industry.

“Plus, the Rudd Labor Government has reduced spending for Tourism Australia, leaving it with less money to market Australia’s tourism destinations. Reducing tourism spending will not create a single job in Australia, which is where the Labor Government’s focus should be.

“In contrast, New Zealand, who is also seeing a decline in visitor numbers, announced an additional $2.5 million dollars for the Australian market to keeping pushing New Zealand's tourism messages and bolster tourist numbers.

“New Zealand has emphasised the importance of investing more in the Australian tourism market, yet our own Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will not back Australian tourism and announce policies and initiatives to address some of the industry’s immediate challenges.

“Labor is letting the Australian tourism industry down. Labor has no policy to address the immediate challenges facing the tourism sector, which is only magnifying the impact the economic downturn is having on tourism which employs some 497,800 Australians. Labor’s poor performance is risking tens of thousands of tourism jobs.”