Coronavirus travel ban to impact accommodation sector
Tourism Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson said the sector is working closely with Government to help avert the effects of any downturn in tourism from China due to the coronavirus.
The head of the nation’s peak tourism accommodation body said today that a travel ban due to coronavirus will impact a sector already struggling with the effects of this summer’s devastating bushfires.
Mr Johnson’s comments follow the Chinese Government’s move to ban international organised group travel from 27 January - about 1.4m Chinese visit Australia annually, about a quarter of those through group travel.
“China is Australia’s largest tourism market and accommodation hotels in metropolitan areas in particular are reliant on the steady flow of organised groups from China,” he said.
“Although Australia derives tourists from a range of locations including the UK, Japan, New Zealand and the US there’s no doubt any temporary drop in Chinese tourists would have a large impact - especially during the time of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
“There were already concerns in our international tourism markets due to the heavy coverage of bushfires internationally and concerns over air quality in Sydney and the coronavirus has only added to that.
“TAA will continue to work side-by-side with the NSW and Federal Governments on tourism recovery programs including “Holiday Here This Year” which we hope will help off-set this additional set-back. “Our industry is resilient and we will work through this together.”
Tourism Accommodation Australia, 28th January 2020
