Report shows Australia tourism forecast bleak

www.ttf.org.au

A travel and tourism industry body in Australia is warning that as many as 29,000 jobs will be lost if the country’s unemployment rate reaches 10 per cent, as the global economic downturn pushes Australia into recession.

The Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) has said that the extent of the problem requires the immediate attention of federal, state and territory governments in order to minimize the impact across the nation.

Geoff Carmody, a former Treasury official and the founder of Access Economics, prepared a report for the TTF in which it is forecast that unemployment will reach the double-digit level, and that tourism will be affected disproportionately.

Carmody’s report is also predicting that the performance of the travel and tourism sector will be worse than official forecasts, as tourist spending falls more on average than consumer spending.

The managing director of the TTF, Christopher Brown, has called the potential loss of 29,000 direct sector jobs “is a frightening but realistic prospect – not to mention the flow-on effects to related employment, which could greatly magnify the problem.”

He added: “497,800 Australians are directly employed in tourism, and about 227,000 of those jobs are in regional areas. This means fewer people working at hotels and motels, in restaurants and cafes, for airlines and rental car companies. Hotels will be forced to shut off entire floors, while restaurants and cafes will have to reduce their trading hours, if not days.”

Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.ttf.org.au