Letter to Treasurer Frydenberg
On the 10th June 2020 BOA submitted a letter lobbying for the extension of JobKeeper for Youth Tourism businesses beyond September 2020.
10th June 2020
Extension of JobKeeper for Youth Tourism Businesses post September 2020
Dear Treasurer Frydenberg,
This letter is a request to consider extending JobKeeper to Youth Tourism businesses beyond the end of September 2020.
The Backpacker Operators Association of NSW Inc. (BOA) represents the concerns and interests of all Youth Tourism operators throughout New South Wales and the ACT. BOA’s members range from individual owner/operators to large tourism franchises from all sectors of the industry including accommodation, travel agents, tour operators, transport providers, technology solution services, entertainment venues and many more.
We commend the Governments recent move to support businesses and their Australian Citizen and permanent resident employees with JobKeeper. This was welcomed by the Youth Tourism Industry and has been a lifeline for businesses and employees. However, the impacts of COVID-19 will continue far beyond September 2020. Youth Tourism businesses will not have recovered to the levels needed to be able to operate and continue paying current employees without the support of JobKeeper.
BOA’s recommendations to extend JobKeeper for Youth Tourism businesses is based on evidence of members experiencing a decline of up to 90% in turnover for businesses that remained opened through the pandemic. The Youth Tourism sector relies heavily on inbound tourism and whilst domestic tourism activity will provide a sense of relief, businesses will not recover until well after international borders are open.
To provide Youth Tourism businesses the opportunity to recover and retain their employees BOA recommends:
- Extending JobKeeper to eligible Youth Tourism businesses for a minimum of six months from 1st October 2020 to 31st March 2021 or until international borders re-open
An additional eligibility test should take place at the end of September (and every six months thereafter if continued past March 2021) to ensure that respective businesses continue to qualify.
Youth Tourism is the greatest contributor to GDP of all market segments. The youth market contributes 25 percent of all visitors to Australia and 45 percent of all visitor spend. Supporting the Youth Tourism Industry is supporting economic growth. Extending JobKeeper for Youth Tourism businesses is providing the ability for the sector to recover from COVID-19, not doing so will result in the collapse of businesses and an increase in unemployment.
Yours sincerely,
Samantha Pearse-Marmont | President | BOA NSW Inc