(TAN): Australia’s travel ban on China can deal a huge financial blow to the country’s tourism sector, especially as it is still trying to recover from the losses caused by the recent bushfires, reports said.
The Australian government reportedly closed its borders to all foreign visitors travelling from China, except for its citizens and permanent residents. Group bookings from China were stopped from last week after the Department of Foreign Affairs raised the level of travel advice for China to ‘level 3 – reconsider your need to travel’. This means tour operators, hotels and other businesses associated with travel could face a collective AUD 1 billion (USD 700 million approximately) loss in revenue for each month the ban stays in place, reports said.
Australian flag carrier Qantas suspended its two direct services from Sydney to mainland China from February 9 to March 29.
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The ban reportedly led to a mass cancellation of bookings during the busiest time of the year for businesses that tap into the Chinese market. Industry bosses have urged the administration to supply rescue packages so that jobs can be saved, reports said.
According to reports, tourism businesses across Australia, particularly New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, destinations that have been most popular with Chinese tourists, bore the brunt of the ban.
Daniel Gschwind, Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, reportedly said they were already getting reports of substantial revenue loss.
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“We’re getting reports of mass cancellations and significant loss of revenue. I’m talking hundreds of thousands of dollars for individual businesses, and many millions of dollars for the state. The (Chinese) market is very significant for Queensland, particularly for destinations like the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns, where the overall Chinese market is about 500,000 visitors annually. A good portion of that is through January and February because of the Chinese New Year (holidays),” he was quoted by TTG Asia as saying.
However, Tourism Western Australia said that although they expected an adverse effect from the recent challenges, the state’s visitor statistics were at an “an all-time high”. The body also said they had recently convened a Coronavirus Industry Working Group with chief stakeholders, and that they were “very well-placed to face these challenges”.
The twin impacts of the bushfires and coronavirus mean Australia is looking at “a pretty tough year in 2020,” Director of Australia-based Griffith Institute of Tourism, Sarah Gardiner was quoted by TTG Asia as saying.
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