• A new Tourism Australia report has revealed that $80 billion in revenue was lost by the sector in 2020.
• It comes as another round of border closures hit tourism operators as a result of Sydney’s growing COVID-19 outbreak this week.
• The new border closures highlight the difficulties in implementing Tourism Australia’s recommendations to boost the sector.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

A new report from Tourism Australia has revealed $80 billion in lost revenue in 2020, as Sydney restrictions spark another round of mass cancellations for tourism operators.

The peak tourism body used the report’s findings to highlight the importance of domestic travel in order to maintain the industry, as it faces losses from new border closures in response to the growing COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney this week.

The report, released on Wednesday, found 84 million fewer trips were made in 2020 compared to 2019 as the pandemic shut Australia’s international borders and saw ongoing snap border closures shake the industry.

In 2019, international visitors spent almost $45 billion within the Australian economy.

According to the report, the lack of international visitors as many other countries reopen to vaccinated travellers, represents a threat both to the nation’s economic recovery and its competitive edge in the global tourism industry.

It suggested international travellers would seek out other destinations in response to the Australian government’s stance that the country’s borders would remain closed until mid-2022, and increasingly form new travel habits that excluded Australia.

The report’s recommendation that Australians double down on domestic travel comes as another COVID-19 outbreak locks out many travellers.

States have closed their borders to NSW as it faces a new outbreak, with anyone who lives or works in seven Sydney local government areas, including City of Sydney, banned from leaving the Greater Sydney area.

The tourism industry predicted losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars from the recent outbreak, as tens of thousands of Australians have been forced to abandon school holiday travel plans.

Dean Long, chief executive of the Accommodation Association, told Guardian Australia “mass cancellations” had been reported in the hours after states tightened their borders on Wednesday.

Long said regional tourism operators within NSW had been hit hard, with areas like the Hunter Valley losing 20% of their upcoming bookings.

He said occupancy rates for Cairns and the Gold Coast over the school holidays had dropped by about 60% since Wednesday morning, and that Sydney hotels had also been hit with cancellations.

Long said that one member hotel in the Sydney CBD lost $40,000 worth of bookings in three hours on Wednesday afternoon.

“In Australia, we rely on international visitors because they are ‘high-yield’ – meaning that, though we don’t necessarily get a high volume of international travellers compared to other countries, the ones that do come have a significantly above-average level of expenditure,” the Tourism Australia report said.

“If our travel restrictions remain in place beyond those of competitor nations, our sector is in a vulnerable position as we are likely to lose market share to other countries.”

Despite a resurgence in domestic travel in 2021, the report hammered home that Australians taking more extended holidays was key to supporting tourism operators.

According to Tourism Australia, the loss in international tourism revenue could be made up if, on average, every Australian took a total of seven domestic overnight trips plus 10 day trips this year.

The report also noted that while 665,000 people are directly employed within the sector, the Covid-19 downturn particularly damaged job security in the industry for younger people.

“Australia’s youth are suffering disproportionately from the loss of tourism, as tourism jobs are particularly important as an entry point to the labour market,” Tourism Australia said.

“People aged under 25 comprised approximately 45 per cent of the accommodation and food services workforce in 2019, compared to 15 per cent across all others.”

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