Tourism barriers need lifting, conference hears

Tourism barriers need lifting, conference hears
By admin


Australia needs to improve its hotel supply, make domestic flights more affordable and reform industrial relations laws if tourism is to continue to prosper, a conference has heard.

Asia is leading the way in its approach to hotel development, with Singapore singled out as the benchmark in the development of tourism infrastructure.

Tourism Accommodation Australia chairman Tony South, speaking during a panel discussion at the Tourism Directions conference in Canberra, said those countries that need tourism most have adopted the best approach.

“Countries that rely on tourism as an important economic contributor out of necessity, those who don’t have many other strings to their economic bow, are the ones that do it the best,” he said.

He described Singapore as having a “unity and single minded” focus on tourism development that flows down from the Prime Minister.

Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner, who owns seven hotels, said Australia is “really struggling” on the supply side.

“We are getting some good properties but probably not enough,” he said.

While praising towns like Noosa for having quality accommodation, places like Coloundra, Maroochydore and the Gold Coast have “stuffed it up”.

“It’s not a good environment to get anything other than more accommodation at the bottom end of the market,” Turner said.

He also questioned service standards as the debate switched to industrial relations and the industry’s struggle to pay “penalty” rates to staff over public holidays and weekends.

The conference heard that tourism businesses can barely afford to open during peak periods because the structure of holiday pay makes it unsustainable to keep trading.

In a poll, just under 50% of delegates said major reform of industrial relations was required, with only 7% saying no reform was necessary.

Accor honorary chairman David Baffsky, and former chairman of the Voyages Indigenous Land Corporation, said the regulations which limit working holidaymakers to six months in one job was also senseless.

“This rule, which has no logical reason, is beyond comprehension,” he said.

Baffsky also called on domestic airfares – in particular to the Red Centre – to be more affordable in order to increase demand. It is cheaper to fly to Bali than travel between some Australian points, he said, a situation which has hit resorts such as the crisis-stricken Ayers Rock Resort.

Baffsky said it was looking to run charter flights to the resort to cater for the conference market in particular.

“Airlines have powerful arguments in terms of profitability and yield management but anyone outside the airline industry will say we need to have a more open policy in relation to access and travel across Australia,” he said. “The truth is that is what is needed. How we get there I don’t know because airlines need to be profitable.”

Turner said it was up to the resort to be more proactive in getting additioanl capacity into the region.

“There are just not enough flights,” he said.

Virgin Australia chief commercial officer, Judith Crompton, said it was purely a matter of supply and demand.

She told the debate there were still too many monopoly routes in Australia, arguing that when competition opens up, fares fall by 30%.

Meanwhile, Crompton said Virgin supported Badgery’s Creek as the site of Sydney’s second airport but stressed the airline was keen to see the assets of Kingsford Smith “sweated out” first.

“It is paramount given Australia's geography that we have efficient, well run and cost effective infrastructure in our airports,” she said.

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