JOEL Katz, Managing Director CLIA Australasia
Speaking up for our community
Australia’s cruise community extends far beyond the cruise lines themselves, which is why CLIA is working to make sure governments understand the full impact of the current cruise suspension on travel agents and other tourism businesses.
To support our case, we commissioned analysis from the AEC Group which shows the suspension of cruise operations is likely to cost Australia more than $1.4 billion in lost economic activity by mid-September and threaten the jobs of more than 4,800 people.
If the suspension continues beyond September and into the summer peak season, there would be a further $3.8 billion in economic losses and another 13,000 jobs would be put at risk.
The suspensions that cruise lines and governments enacted worldwide have been the right response as we confront COVID-19, but there is an enormous cost to the wider cruise community. There are many thousands of travel agents, tour operators, ports and destinations, technical support providers, and food and beverage suppliers who are suffering enormous financial stress.
In total, cruise tourism is worth $5.2 billion a year to the Australia economy and supports more than 18,000 jobs. These jobs are spread across almost 50 destinations and every state, including many regional and remote communities that have suffered enormously in the tourism shutdown.
CLIA has presented this economic insight in submissions to the Australian Government, to back our argument that the JobKeeper scheme should be extended for travel agents and the wider travel industry.
As cruise lines work on the new health protocols, we’ll also lobby all levels of government to support the interests of our agent members and those of the wider cruise community.
