Tourism Accommodation Australia will help guide the tourism sector's recovery from COVID-19, with Chair Martin Ferguson joining the newly formed Tourism Restart Taskforce.

Mr Ferguson said TAA will be able to provide strong, experienced representation for Australia’s accommodation industry during what will inevitably be a long road to recovery.

“Australia’s hotels have been heavily impacted for almost six months by both the summer bushfires and the coronavirus outbreak, yet during this time they have played a leadership role in the community, despite incurring heavy financial losses,” he said.

At glance:

• Tourism Accommodation Australia will join the newly formed Tourism Restart Taskforce.
• TAA Chair Martin Ferguson said Australia hotels would play a "leading role" in the recovery of the tourism sector.
• TAA CEO Michael Johnson has warned against expecting an easy road back.

“From providing crisis accommodation to offering lodging for returning Australians requiring COVID-19 isolation, Australia’s hotels will play a leading role in the recovery of our tourism sector in the same way they have during the crisis.

“TAA is able to provide strong advocacy on behalf of Australia’s accommodation industry, which continues to navigate the most challenging period on record.”

TAA CEO Michael Johnson said the accommodation industry will be central to the recovery of Australia’s tourism sector, but the nature of COVID-19 means the road to recovery will be a long one.

“Until we see a sustained and comprehensive containment of the virus across the world we can expect international travel to be very limited, which will present a long-term challenge to the tourism industry,” he said.

“There are definite opportunities to grow Australia’s domestic tourism and TAA is proud to be the leading advocate for Australia’s accommodation hotels as we look to explore short and medium term options to get our tourism industry back on its feet.

“As the only authoritative voice for Australia’s hotel sector, TAA looks forward to working with ACCI and other leading tourism bodies to ensure we put in place measures which will stimulate our tourism industry and in doing so, safeguard the many thousands of jobs who rely on it.”

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