Australian tourism damaged by Qantas strikes

Industry expert John Lee said Australians were reluctant to book holidays over fears their flight might be grounded and were choosing to stay at home instead.

"It's not just Qantas engineers, pilots and baggage handlers - we've also had rolling strikes from customs staff,'' he said.

"In terms of a gateway to the nation the first impression some overseas visitors are receiving is a queue and that's not very welcoming.

"Thankfully it's not Christmas but there are already forward bookings into Christmas that are down five to ten per cent compared to the same time last year.

"That's slightly alarming.

"We have even noticed less take up of hire cars.''

Mr Lee, who is chief executive of lobby group Tourism and Transport Forum, said Australia's reputation was also being damaged internationally.

"If people are waiting in airport lounges rather than enjoying the rock, reef and beaches that's not going to help our reputation,'' he said.

"They're not going to act as ambassadors for 'brand Australia' when they go home and that's really concerning to us.''

While it had been mostly major routes between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne affected so far, Mr Lee said as more planes are pulled because of maintenance issues the consequences will reach into regional Australia.

"It will affect the people who least need it and that's regional operators,'' he said.

"We need certainty and to get certainty we need both parties to get an agreement that's in everyone's best interest.''

Research released this week shows domestic tourism was already struggling in the wake of the strong Australian dollar, with the percentage of Australians who intend to travel at home on their next holiday falling by three per cent.

At the same time, those who plan to head overseas had risen slightly.

The Roy Morgan survey, conducted from June to August, found 55 per cent of Australians planned to take a holiday in their own country sometime in the next year, while those planning to travel overseas has increased to nine per cent.

Australia's five main international source markets are also expected to drop because of concerns about economic uncertainty and recent natural disasters.

The Tourism Forecasting Committee predicted international visitor numbers will flatline this year, with modest growth of 0.4 per cent now forecast, compared the previous forecast of 3.1 per cent growth.

Visitors from Japan are expected to fall by 18 per cent, Britain by six per cent and the US by four per cent.

But growth from Asian destinations is set to rise by around three per cent.

"Not only have we had natural disasters in Queensland and floods in Brisbane, we have had the loss of the Japanese market because of their tsunami and real economic problems in the UK and US which means we haven't had these traditional markets coming,'' Mr Lee said.

He said tourism operators were also having trouble finding and retaining skilled staff - especially in regional areas - as they cannot compete with the wages being offered by the mining sector.

World Travel and Tourism Council president David Scowsill, who spoke at the recent Australian Directions conference in Canberra, said Australia's travel and tourism industry cannot compete with China and other emerging destinations when it comes to tourism growth.

He said Australia's industry would grow at around 2.5 per cent a year over the next decade, while many Asian destinations will grow "exponentially''.

"Australia is a relatively mature market - it's similar to France, Germany, Spain and the UK,'' he said.

"Australia's growth is going to be much slower (but) you can't expect to grow as fast as China because it's growing off a small base.

"It's a good, steady growth. There's nothing specific you can do.''

Mr Scowsill said Australia's growth would be comparable to established European destinations such as Spain and Germany, which will increase about 1.5 to 2 per cent a year.

Meanwhile, Eastern European destinations such as Poland, Latvia and Romania are tipped to grow at around 9 per cent.

He praised Australia's marketing efforts, but said it needed more new hotels and attractions.

While he said Australia may suffer from things beyond its control, such as the strong dollar, the UK's air passenger duty and economic uncertainty in Europe, it was not expected to drop from its number seven world tourism ranking.

Asia is expected to account for 36 per cent of tourism growth worldwide over the next decade, with two billion new middle class consumers coming to the marketplace over the next 20 years, mostly from India, China and Korea.

Source - news.com.au