Part time Minister not enough for tourism

13/12/11

Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister that she will not replace Senator Nick Sherry as Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism is a further blow to the tourism industry, according to Shadow Tourism Minister Bob Baldwin.

“Tourism and Hospitality has struggled to gain the attention or support of the Government, and today’s announcement has reduced the sector’s Ministerial representation by 50%,” Mr Baldwin said.

In her press conference, the PM today spoke about the importance of an “innovative” and “vibrant” tourism industry, but then failed to appoint a replacement for outgoing Tourism Minister Nick Sherry.

“The tourism and hospitality industry has been dealing with the growing pressure of a high Australian dollar, leading to both supply and demand pressures. These pressures are being ignored by a Government fixated on mining,” Mr Baldwin said.

The industry has been hit by workers leaving for higher paid mining jobs at a time when the high dollar has meant more Australians are holidaying abroad. While the PM acknowledged the two-speed economy, she has once again failed to ensure those hit hardest will receive the attention they deserve.

The Prime Minister’s decision leaves Cabinet Minister Martin Ferguson to continue in his role as Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism, unassisted. Yet, in dealing with the competing demands of tourism and resources, Minister Ferguson has put many in the hospitality sector offside.

“The Government will continue to be divided and dysfunctional after today’s announcement. Keeping resources, energy and tourism together will do nothing to solve the competing demands of these portfolios, since tourism will always be put last by Minister Ferguson,” Mr Baldwin said.

The federal opposition said that having a part time tourism minister with no help is an unorthodox way to drive regional development and employment, which are stated aims of the government.

“With almost half of tourism employment in regional and rural areas, it seems an unorthodox approach, Mr Baldwin said.

“In NZ, tourism is considered so important the PM is the Tourism Minister, while in a couple of states here the deputy premier has the portfolio.

“We want to know who will drive the necessary reforms to help Australia reach the agreed target of doubling overnight tourism spending by 2020.

The latest version of the National Long Term Tourism Strategy (NLTTS, now called Tourism 2020) announced last week acknowledges the need to build another 40-70,000 rooms and employ as many as 150,000 extra people to provide the service required to cope with the demand reaching the target will create.

“It’s a target the government has agreed to repeatedly, yet it is an aim to which they are still apparently unwilling to commit ministerial resources.

“In her press conference today, the Prime Minister said it was important that Australians aren’t left behind, and wanted to ensure Australians had jobs. This presumably did not include the Tourism and hospitality sector,” Mr Baldwin said.

Last week the tourism sector met with the government to voice its dissatisfaction with its new Tourism 2020 document, saying it had failed to deal with those issues it saw as the most urgent.

“Minister Ferguson has put scant resources or energy into tourism – even telling a Sydney Institute audience in March 2010 that unemployed tourism workers in Cairns should seek jobs in the mining and resources sector,” Mr Baldwin said.

With the emergence of new and highly competitive destinations abroad, Australia’s share of global tourism has fallen[1]. Australians now heading overseas outnumber visitors coming to our shores[2].

Since 2008, Australia has slipped from fourth to thirteenth place in the World Economic Forum Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index rankings^[3]. This index lists Australia among the world’s most expensive destinations based on high fuel prices, ticket taxes and airport charges.