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In the lead up to this year’s Federal Election, the Australian Tourism Export Council is calling on all political parties to commit to the recovery of the Australian tourism industry, outlining measures which will help tourism businesses to get back into the global market.

The COVID pandemic decimated the $45 billion export tourism industry, with many businesses having little or no revenue for the past two years.  With the reopening of international borders, the industry needs clearly articulated commitments from political parties which outline their plans to help drive tourism’s recovery and rebuild valuable tourism distribution networks.

ATEC Managing Director Peter Shelley notes “Australia’s export tourism industry has endured two years of debilitating conditions where many businesses simply had no income or vision on when it would end.

“Now we have our borders open we are seeing the green shoots of recovery and with export tourism businesses looking to rebuild their markets, this an important time for government focus on investing in getting the industry back on its feet.

“With an election ahead, we are calling on all parties to issue a strong commitment to our tourism industry and clearly articulate their policy platforms which will support its restart.”

ATEC’s #itstimefortourism campaign: Recover, Rebuild, Regrow paper outlines key supports, investments and policy considerations which the industry is calling on political parties to endorse with four pillars including:

•Restart strong – increasing funding for Tourism Australia, extra funding and better targeting of the EMDG program, visa innovation and subsidies for businesses to attend trade events

•Workforce Resilience – extend the WHM fee waiver, invest in tour guide training and GoWithTourism Australia and more flexible student visas to allow longer working hours.

•Capability – programs to support training and capability building, indigenous product development and building regional capacity.

•Distribution & Innovation – innovations for payment processes, promoting leading edge business practices, itinerary development and sustainability.

Shelley adds “while we rebuild our industry we also have the opportunity to innovate and improve business practices, support a more sustainable industry and create a tourism industry of the future.

“It’s time for tourism and it's time for our political parties to recognise the important contribution the tourism export sector - Australia’s largest service export - makes to our economy by supporting these simple but effective requests that will enable tourism businesses across Australia to get back to what they do best.”

Image: Kangaroo Island Credit: Tourism Australia

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