AUSTRALIA'S tourism industry is at risk of losing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in income unless it undergoes fundamental reforms, a new report says.
The government-sponsored Jackson Report produced by the Long Term Tourism Strategy Steering Committee makes 10 recommendations to enhance research, online capability, skills and investment.
Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson welcomed the report chaired by former Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson, saying the government and the industry need to focus on improving productive capacity and international competitiveness.
"The tourism industry's contribution to the Australian economy is immense, with the sector generating more than $40 billion in gross domestic product and directly employing around half a million people," Mr Ferguson said.
The sector also generates more than $23 billion in exports.
Still, Australia's share of global tourism dropped 14 per cent between 1995 and 2008, and as a proportion of GDP has been in decline since peaking in 2001.
"Even more worrying, despite a long economic boom, Australia's domestic tourism performance has flatlined over the past ten years, while outbound travel has soared," Ms Jackson said.
"A generation of young Australians is growing up without a tradition of an annual local holiday.
However, she said Australia still had a strong international brand and was regarded as an aspirational destination.
"In our consultations we heard a universal view that Australia needs to focus more clearly on developing our tourism industry products based on our competitive advantages - our indigenous culture, landscapes, sophisticated cities and regions, and diverse and friendly people."
She said a vital step is to boost tourism industry research to enable quality decisions across policy, planning and investment.
The Steering Committee also believes a concentrated effort is required to accelerate online capacity of the tourism industry for marketing and booking.
Global key performance indicators and targets need to be set up for the industry, and develop plans based on Australia's competitive advantages and priority destinations.
"More effort is required to develop the long-term skill base and labour pool the industry needs," Ms Jackson said.
"Governments at all levels and the tourism industry will need to collaborate more closely to ensure tourism considerations are factored into the wide range of planning, investment and development processes."
She said the tourism industry's importance to Australia was widely under-estimated as it brought enormous benefits in terms of jobs creation and support for small businesses.
"If Australia does not make the necessary changes between now and 2030, we risk forgoing 3.6 million international visitors, $22 billion of tourism's contribution to GDP, and as many as 100,000 tourism jobs," she said.
"This cannot be allowed to happen."
Minister Ferguson said the Jackson report was a valuable contribution to the ongoing development of the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy, which will be finalised later this year.
The government-sponsored Jackson Report produced by the Long Term Tourism Strategy Steering Committee makes 10 recommendations to enhance research, online capability, skills and investment.
Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson welcomed the report chaired by former Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson, saying the government and the industry need to focus on improving productive capacity and international competitiveness.
"The tourism industry's contribution to the Australian economy is immense, with the sector generating more than $40 billion in gross domestic product and directly employing around half a million people," Mr Ferguson said.
The sector also generates more than $23 billion in exports.
Still, Australia's share of global tourism dropped 14 per cent between 1995 and 2008, and as a proportion of GDP has been in decline since peaking in 2001.
"Even more worrying, despite a long economic boom, Australia's domestic tourism performance has flatlined over the past ten years, while outbound travel has soared," Ms Jackson said.
"A generation of young Australians is growing up without a tradition of an annual local holiday.
However, she said Australia still had a strong international brand and was regarded as an aspirational destination.
"In our consultations we heard a universal view that Australia needs to focus more clearly on developing our tourism industry products based on our competitive advantages - our indigenous culture, landscapes, sophisticated cities and regions, and diverse and friendly people."
She said a vital step is to boost tourism industry research to enable quality decisions across policy, planning and investment.
The Steering Committee also believes a concentrated effort is required to accelerate online capacity of the tourism industry for marketing and booking.
Global key performance indicators and targets need to be set up for the industry, and develop plans based on Australia's competitive advantages and priority destinations.
"More effort is required to develop the long-term skill base and labour pool the industry needs," Ms Jackson said.
"Governments at all levels and the tourism industry will need to collaborate more closely to ensure tourism considerations are factored into the wide range of planning, investment and development processes."
She said the tourism industry's importance to Australia was widely under-estimated as it brought enormous benefits in terms of jobs creation and support for small businesses.
"If Australia does not make the necessary changes between now and 2030, we risk forgoing 3.6 million international visitors, $22 billion of tourism's contribution to GDP, and as many as 100,000 tourism jobs," she said.
"This cannot be allowed to happen."
Minister Ferguson said the Jackson report was a valuable contribution to the ongoing development of the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy, which will be finalised later this year.
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