The Labor government has just dropped its first budget since its election in May with a heavy focus on childcare and tackling the nationwide skills shortages.

What does this mean for the travel and tourism industry? Well, a hell of a lot, actually. Let’s break it down.

A big win for women

The female workforce is set to benefit in a big way, with Labor sticking to its election promise to increase childcare subsidies, unlocking the equivalent of an extra 37,000 workers, according to the budget overview.

“The significant cost of early childhood education and care can prevent parents, particularly women, from working as much as they want,” the overview said.

“It is estimated these reforms will increase the hours worked by women with young children up to 1.4 million hours per week in 2023-34. This is an equivalent of an extra 37,000 workers.”

This is big for travel, given 72 per cent of our front liners and 74 per cent of middle management are women, according to the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA).

Dean Long, CEO of AFTA said this increase is a “rallying cry” for parents with young children, particularly women, to return to the industry.

“It’s a rallying cry for travel professionals that have been wondering if they should return to the workforce,” he said.

“Now is the time and we can’t wait to welcome you back.”

From next year, the maximum subsidy rate will be increased to 90 per cent for families earning up to $80,000 with a sliding scale until the family’s combined income hits $530,000.

Support for skills  

To tackle the skills shortage, the government has put aside $922 million over five years to go towards providing 480,000 free TAFE places.

Specific to travel, $48 million over the next four years will go towards recruitment and marketing in the tourism and travel sectors.

On top of this, the government has committed to supporting the Accommodation Association’s platform The Hub, to connect people to vacancies, foster skills development and showcase tourism as a career.

“No matter where you go across Australia, the biggest challenge we are all facing as Australia’s travel and tourism sector gets back to normal, is filling the skills shortfall and workforce gap created during COVID,” Accommodation Association president Leanne Harwood said, commenting on the budget announcement.

“[the] announcement of $10 million in training and skills development will go a long way in helping us attract, educate and re-train the 100,000 staff we need right now including supporting more First Nations Australians, people living with a disability, and older Australians.
 
“This is a very welcome shot in the arm for one of the most important sectors driving Australia’s economic recovery, our Visitor Economy.”

Tourism Accommodation Association CEO Michael Johnson said the funding will also help to upskill existing talent and attract more people to return to the workforce and share their skills and knowledge.

“It will also allow us to spotlight the career paths that exist in our sector including to those who perhaps haven’t considered it before and help us rebuild.”

Caravan parks to get a fresh lick of paint 

The government has also made good on its promise to the Caravan Industry Association of Australia to provide much-needed infrastructure and upgrade funding.

A grant program will be rolled out for caravan parks around the country to apply for funding to assist in upgrades or new infrastructure and visitor facilities including improvements to accessibility and environmental sustainability practices.

Caravan Industry Association of Australia chief executive, Stuart Lamont, said this funding to deliver more attractive visitor amenities and appealing product is just the ticket to supporting sustainable recovery and growth in Australian tourism.

“Caravan parks nationwide will keenly apply. The grants will develop new, appealing visitor product including cabins, recreation facilities and innovative features such as supporting accessible tourism,” Lamont said.

All in all, no surprises

The best part of this latest budget, according to Long, is the lack of nasty surprises.

“What’s really good about this budget is that it delivers on what the government said they were going to do at the election,” he said.

“And that’s a good thing. There are no surprises; no increase in passenger movement charges and no increase in other tourism and travel taxes in the visa system.”

However, given the current state of airfares and demand levels that we haven’t seen in close to 30 years, Long said there will be people in the treasury looking to increase taxes.

“And we’ve got to make sure that that doesn’t happen, because we already face high taxes in travel experience, inbound and outbound,” he continued.

“And that can’t be a lever they pull next time around. So we’ve got to keep up that pressure.”

Image: Prime minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers (Facebook/ jim4rankin)