Sentiment about the performance of the domestic tourism sector is at its lowest point in three years, according to the latest TTF-MasterCard Tourism Industry Sentiment Survey. TTF chief executive John Lee say it has been a tough year and operators are wary.
“If there’s a brighter spot, it’s that tourism operators are slightly less pessimistic about domestic travel for the upcoming holiday period,” Lee said, “but keep in mind that expectations remain well below average.”
“Continuing global economic upheaval, natural disasters at home and in two of our top inbound markets, and the number of Australians travelling overseas have contributed to the current malaise, especially for leisure tourism operators in regional areas.
“More than 40 % of operators expect international tourism to be worse than usual over the Christmas-New Year period, with only 6% expecting improved conditions.
“Expectations for domestic tourism are more positive, with 15% forecasting improved conditions, against 30% suggesting domestic trade will be worse than usual for the period.
“In other words, tourism operators are not getting their hopes up too high – but they are hoping for better weather than we had for Christmas and January last year, especially in Queensland.”
Lee says the dollar remains a key area of concern.
“57% of respondents rated the strong Australian dollar among the top three factors negatively impacting their business,” he said, “however that’s down from 72%last quarter.
“The survey also shows labour and skills issues continuing to gain prominence, with 88% of operators nominating the skilled labour shortage and two thirds nominating a shortage of unskilled labour as being medium or high impediments to their businesses.”
Edited by : Peter Needham
(Source: eglobaltravelmedia.com.au)
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