Regional Operators Set For Busy Summer
The Age
Monday November 26, 2001
Regional tourism operators are gearing up for a busy summer holiday season despite the tough times that have struck the tourism industry since Ansett's collapse, an increase in insurance premiums and the September 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent war in Afghanistan.
Tourism operators in coastal and inland Victoria are reporting booking levels comparable to, and in some cases, greater than, previous years.
But there is considerable uncertainty in the industry about trading conditions once the holiday period ends, particularly regarding the number of international visitors.
Lakes and Wilderness Tourism, covering central and east Gippsland, reported significant increases in the number of people using its visitor centres and in the level of bookings.
A spokeswoman for the organisation said much of the accommodation in the area had been booked through to mid and late February, which was ``most unusual".
She said there was an increase of up to 75 per cent in the number of people coming through the doors of visitor centres, with many opting for a holiday close to home.
``Many families are not travelling overseas this year," she said. ``People who would normally travel to Europe are instead staying (here) for up to 10 days at a time."
Executive director of Geelong Otway Tourism Roger Grant said while bookings for the Christmas and January holiday period were strong there was anxiety about the subsequent position.
According to a survey of the organisation's 1000 members, a majority expected the collapse of Ansett and the decline in international tourism would have a significant impact on their business.
Mr Grant said about 40 per cent reported a decline in sales of about 10 per cent and about 20 per cent had or were planning to cut back staff.
Country Victoria Tourism Council chief executive officer Nicholas Hunt said there was considerable optimism among regional tourism operators about the holiday period through to the end of January but ``there is a lot of uncertainty about what happens after that".
Mr Hunt said there was no substantive evidence that people who would normally holiday overseas were instead choosing to travel locally.
He said the volatile international situation presented Victorian tourism with an opportunity to attract more domestic travellers but ``it's a question of how other (interstate) markets will hold up and how overseas travel holds up".
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week indicated a sharp decline in the number of overseas tourists to Australia. In seasonally adjusted terms the number of international visitors in October fell by 12.7 per cent, the third-largest fall on record. The largest drop (24 per cent) occurred in June, 1971, and the second-highest (16.1per cent) in May, 1982.
But the bureau cautioned that the year-on-year comparison was distorted by the 2000 Olympics and in trend terms the figures for October, 2001, were consistent with those for October, 1999.
Victorian Tourism Industry Council chairman John Button said regional tourism operators reported a downturn in bookings from overseas travellers next year, particularly for those coming from the United States and Japan.
But the domestic tourist market ``seems to be holding up pretty well. In general terms things are looking better than expected."
Tourism Victoria chairman John Morse said ``long-haul" tourism was struggling because people were reluctant to be far from home during uncertain times.
``People are travelling, but not as far," he said.
Mr Grant said there was intense competition within Australia for the domestic tourism market and one of the advantages of the Geelong region was its proximity to Melbourne. But he said Australian operators should not give up on international markets already established.
The most should be made of Australia's reputation as a safe destination, particularly in the United States market, Mr Grant said. He said Geelong Otway Tourism would not ``walk away" from the relationships it had established with travel wholesalers in the US.
He said those who had abandoned partners in Asia during that region's currency crisis had encountered resentment when they tried to re-establish business links later.
Mr Morse said there was no reason to expect the downturn in tourism to last long.
He said that in the past decade three major international crises had affected tourism but the industry had doubled in size over the 10-year period.
``I don't think tourism will be any different this decade," he said. ``There is strong agreement that the industry will recover. We should be back to pretty much normal position by the middle of next year."
© 2001 The Age