Ready to Rebound

Lake Argyle Cruise: Credtit Tourism WA.

Carla Giuca introduces THRIVE 2030 - a roadmap for rejuvenating tourism

With international visitors returning to Australian shores after the nation’s borders reopened in February, the THRIVE 2030 Strategy is being implemented to help rebuild the tourism sector and recover losses caused by the pandemic.

Australia’s visitor economy plays a critical role in driving our economy, wellbeing and sense of national identity. It generates jobs, trade, investment, and creates opportunities in cities and regions.

It also contributes to communities by driving socioeconomic development and inclusive growth - providing diversity in employment, opportunities for innovation, supporting the arts, culture and sport, and delivering amenities that benefit local populations as well as visitors.

Beyond this immediate impact, the experience delivered by the visitor economy influences travellers’ impressions of Australia. This can underpin future spending and investment decisions, drive demand for Australian products and services, and create lasting networks. The visitor economy also fosters cultural exchange and international cooperation, with positive visitor experiences invaluable to Australia’s ‘soft power’ overseas.

Importance of the visitor economy The visitor economy goes well beyond ‘tourism’. It comprises a wide range of industries that provide goods and services to visitors who travel to a destination for a variety of purposes such as leisure, education, business and employment. It also encompasses several industry sectors and operates across cities and regional destinations.

The visitor economy also makes an enormous economic contribution to Australia, financially.

In the 10 years to 2020, Australia had a strong and dynamic visitor economy which was growing faster than the national economy.

According to Tourism Research Australia (TRA), prior to COVID-19, the visitor economy contributed over $166 billion to our economy, was our fourth largest export sector and, directly and indirectly, supported over one million jobs (in 2018/19).

International visitors contributed $59 billion which included $40 billion from international students, while $107 billion came from domestic tourism.

The visitor economy is also important for regional communities, generating jobs and providing services and infrastructure. Prior to COVID, it was of roughly twice as much economic importance to regions compared with capital cities, contributing 3.4% to gross domestic product (GDP) in the regions, compared to a 1.6% contribution to GDP in capital cities.

Pandemic and lockdowns savage the sector COVID-19 had an immense impact on Australia’s visitor economy. The closure of international borders resulted in international visitation dropping 98%, GDP contribution from tourism down almost 50%, and tourism jobs losses of over 25% (over 190,000 jobs). Fewer visitors meant lower business revenue, with total expenditure lost to the visitor economy from March 2020 to March 2022 of $156.8 billion according to TRA data.

Similarly, domestic tourism also fell, with varying impacts across the country. Total spend fell 43% between the fourth quarters of 2019 and 2020, driven by a (continuing) 98% reduction in international tourism. Business, event and education travel was also drastically affected. Cities had the two-fold blow of losing both international travellers and business travellers: Melbourne’s visitation dropped by 58% in 2020, while Sydney’s fell by 42%.

Border closures and social restrictions were key factors.

People also stopped travelling because of a lack of confidence in continued border closures, in job and income security, and in the rollout of vaccines.

To help the sector recover and sustainably grow the industry, the Federal Government through its tourism policy lead agency, Austrade, developed THRIVE 2030, the national visitor economy strategy, after extensive consultations with industry and all levels of government.

What is THRIVE 2030? THe Re-Imagined Visitor Economy (THRIVE) Strategy 2030 (the Strategy) provides the national strategy for recovery and the return to sustainable growth for Australia’s visitor economy. THRIVE 2030 is the industry-led and government-enabled plan through to 2030 and beyond.

The Strategy and Action Plan address the challenges and opportunities facing the visitor economy. THRIVE 2030 prioritises early phase and urgent measures that are required to support the sector’s recovery in the short term.

There is a long-term outlook too. This addresses pre-existing challenges, opportunities, structural trends, and community expectations to ensure Australia’s visitor economy returns to again being competitive, vibrant, modern, resilient and sustainable. How we get back THRIVE aims to rebuild the visitor economy and achieve success by focusing on three key areas which encompass a range of actions: •Diversify markets, experiences and destinations. Australia has unique, world class sights and experiences to offer, and there is an opportunity to attract high-value visitors through innovative, focused and personalised visitor attraction strategies that are targeted at a re-balanced mix of domestic and international markets. •Modernise supply side enablers, like workforce and infrastructure. This includes offering authentic experiences, such as Indigenous, eco-tourism and luxury experiences. About 60% of Australian millennials want to experience authentic culture during their travels, but very few domestic trips include Indigenous tourism experiences, so addressing this is key. Investment in infrastructure and assets to make them sustainable and accessible for travellers with disability is also important, as this segment contributes more than $3 billion a year to the visitor economy. •Collaborate with all stakeholders, namely governments at Commonwealth and State and Territory levels, industry bodies, destinations and providers to achieve success. This also includes having a strong national governance, with a focus on the data, strategies, promotion and advocacy needed to diversify our markets and destinations and modernise our visitor economy’s supply side. Providers and destinations may make their own choices, but co-opetition may be more productive than pure competition. Destinations may contribute to and leverage national or regional strategies, share and use data, and invest in infrastructure and shared assets, particularly in the regions.

For Australian destinations, the short-term focus must be on survival and recovery. However, that recovery needs to set the visitor economy up for a return to long-term sustainable growth in the decade to come, and to conquer the market, technology, geopolitical and other challenges it brings. Underpinning this is the work being done to change traveller behaviours and perceptions, so Australians spend more money domestically as they do overseas. This involves raising awareness of unique local experiences available domestically, especially as people begin to travel again after lockdowns. The likelihood is that domestic and international travel will return to strong growth through the 2020s. Forecasts suggest that domestic spend could also rebound to pre-COVID levels by 2023. International travel, however, might not reach its pre-COVID levels until as late as 2025 but may grow stronger as pent-up demand to travel increases. Carla Giuca is Head of Visitor Economy Capability and Workforce Branch at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade).

Charts courtesy of Tourism Research Australia (TRA).

Carla Giuca. Credit: Austrade.

Women talking to a Guide on the Garden Walk tour at Ayers Rock Resort. Credit: Tourism NT/Shaana McNaught.

Training gives Indigenous Australians a pathway into tourism

First Nations cultures are a unique drawcard for Australian tourism. Before the pandemic, interest in Indigenous tourism experiences was growing strongly.

According to Tourism Research Australia, 2.5 million Australian and international visitors took part in an Indigenous tourism experience in 2019. This was a 42% increase over 2013.

The national long-term THRIVE 2030 Strategy prioritises First Nations participation in the visitor economy. To achieve this, the sector needs more Indigenous-owned businesses and more trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff.

Working in tourism can help First Nations people to stay on country and earn an income while sharing their culture and traditions. Visitors benefit from authentic immersive experiences they cannot get anywhere else in the world.

These organisations are working to attract, train and retain First Nations people in the visitor economy. NITA: Changing lives by empowering First Nations people On the lands of the Anangu lies the National Indigenous Training Academy (NITA). NITA has been helping young Indigenous Australians forge careers in tourism and hospitality since 2011.

Both NITA and the Ayers Rock Resort are divisions of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia (Voyages). Trainees gain valuable practical experience while doing an accredited course in tourism and hospitality, retail, or landscaping.

First Nations people come from all over Australia to train at NITA. The Academy has focused on building relationships with the local Indigenous community. It aims to attract more Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara into its courses. Expanding into new territory Voyages also opened a training site at Mossman Gorge on Kuku Yalanji country in 2011.

The Mossman Gorge site gives Kuku Yalanji people the opportunity to train in tourism and hospitality while gaining practical experience. Tourism trainees work as tour guides, conducting Dreamtime walks, tea ceremonies and Welcome to Country.

Hospitality trainees gain on-the-job experience in the area’s leading resorts and hotels. Transitioning into employment To date, 610 First Nations people have graduated from NITA’s courses. They have transitioned into the visitor economy workforce.

Once trainees have graduated, both sites provide employment opportunities. The Ayers Rock Resort is one of Australia’s largest employers of Indigenous hospitality staff.

In fact, NITA reached a special milestone in 2022. Four of its first graduates celebrated 10 years of working at the Ayers Rock Resort.

NITA graduates have also gained employment in NITA and Voyages itself. Accor: Supporting First Nations talent Hotel chain Accor is committed to cultural tourism and Indigenous careers.

It introduced an Indigenous Employment Strategy in 2001. The program aims to increase engagement and employment for talented individuals in Australia’s Indigenous communities.

The program ramped up in 2015, when Accor received Government assistance to support pathways to employment for Indigenous Australians.

Today, First Nations people make up nearly 4% of the workforce across Accor’s hotel network. Almost a third of them are under 25, and more than two-thirds are women. Building relationships with Indigenous communities Accor’s specialist Indigenous recruitment team works to build strong relationships with local Indigenous communities. This ensures potential talent is aware of the career opportunities Accor offers.

Accor’s Indigenous Careers Program is a four-day learn, train and trial program. It introduces prospective employees to the organisation and the industry.

Once employed, Indigenous staff can benefit from a full suite of training and development opportunities. They include mentoring, industry certification and leadership development training.

In its most recent Leadership Development Programs, Indigenous team members made up 15% of leadership training participants. Accor has appointed two Indigenous hotel general managers since 2016.