‘We’re in serious trouble’: Tourism industry pleads for government support

The tourism industry is pleading for the federal and state governments to step in and offer support to their industry with the likelihood that international travel will continue to be impacted in 2021.

Tourism operators want JobKeeper-style payments as border closures continue to disrupt movement across the country.

It comes as Federal Health Department Secretary Brendan Murphy warns that widespread overseas travel may not commence until 2022.

CEO of the Tourism and Transport Forum Margy Osmond says it’s a matter of survival.

“We’re the industry that’s most viscerally effected by border closures, regardless of whether they’re international or state,” she told Tom Elliott on 3AW Drive.

“We can’t recover until we get international borders open, but we’ve got no chance of surviving if we can’t sort out what’s going on.”

Ms Osmond says peoples confidence in booking a holiday is considerably down.

“With that confidence level down, we’re in serious trouble,” she said.

“We are going to need a version of JobKeeper, something like it, that supports the industry for at least another 12 months.”

Click PLAY to hear the interview below