AFTA Update | Travel Daily 30 June 2020

With a second round of lockdowns taking hold in Melbourne and the subsequent pause on some restriction easing around the country, the battled travel and tourism industry is taking yet a further blow. The extension of JobKeeper for the travel industry is an absolute must.

The Morrison Government gave some positive signals last week last week with multiple publications reporting that the government was “poised” to reveal a “further phase” of income support beyond September. "There will be another phase of income support targeted at those who continue to need it, recognising that some sectors will take longer to recover than others," Treasurer Frydenberg told AFR Weekend.

So while we wait, AFTA, led by the new CEO Darren Rudd, has been constructively collaborating with government, so that they firstly understand the real risk that many businesses are walking a financial tightrope secondly, the important role of travel agents in eventually restarting Australia’s core travel and tourism sector.

In Darren’s first two weeks he met with Federal Member for North Sydney, Trent Zimmerman and also visited Blacktown where he and Michelle Rowland MP (Greenway) met with long established travel agents.

This week we’re off to the electorates of McMahon and Berowra to meet with MP Chris Bowen and MP Julian Leeser respectively. This will facilitate a direct dialogue with elected officials and ATAS accredited travel agencies in these regions.

AFTA’s vision, as part of its grassroots approach, is to visit every electorate, nationally, over the next 2 years so that AFTA has a voice at the table when key political decisions, which affect the operations of travel agencies takes place – we look forward to visiting you!