With no more JobKeeper and zero international tourists, leaders of Australia’s hotel networks are calling for urgent support to save its skilled workforce.
Peak industry bodies, the Accommodation Association and Tourism Accommodation Australia and the leaders of Australia’s hotel networks have united in a plea to the Morrison Government to redirect $270 million in COVID support to save jobs in the devastated Sydney and Melbourne markets.
“Without international travel, Sydney and Melbourne properties, especially in the CBD, are heartbreakingly empty.”
Dean Long, Accommodation Association CEO
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The who’s who of Australia’s accommodation sector have signed a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling for urgent action to ensure skilled staff are retained.
With JobKeeper over, the united plea is for money to be diverted from the government’s $1.2 billion support package to support 18,000 workers in the key international hubs of Sydney and Melbourne.
Forward booking rates across Sydney and Melbourne properties are as low as 10 per cent for the three months to June – and that was before Brisbane’s three-day lockdown and fears that COVID-19 has spread to Northern NSW – sending many Easter weekend plans into chaos.
“How are businesses in Sydney and Melbourne meant to retain what’s left of their skilled workforce without any assistance?”
Tourism Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson
Sydney is currently the worst-performing market, with revenue falls of 67 per cent. Given international travel is still a considerable way off, and the corporate travel market still marginal, this is not likely to improve any time soon.
Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long said “We urgently need $270 million from the $1.2 billion Tourism and Aviation package reallocated to support the 18,000 internationally impacted professional accommodation employees in Sydney and Melbourne.
“We have asked to meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and, given the economic contribution of our sector and our pressing need, we are hopeful of support.”
The letter is signed by Marriott International, Accor, InterContinental Hotels Group, Wyndham Vacation Clubs, BWH Hotel Group, TFE Hotels, Hilton, The Star Entertainment Group, Tall Timbers Tasmania, Ovolo Hotels Australia, Lancemore Group, Ascott/Quest Apartment Hotels, Crystalbrook Collection Hotels & Resorts, EVENT Hospitality & Entertainment Ltd, Crown Sydney and Crown Hotels, Classic Holidays, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Jackalope Hotels, Choice Hotels Asia-Pacific, Tourism Accommodation Australia and Accommodation Australia.
