Newsletter Item – Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania, 8 November 2021
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncertainty
Industry Sentiment Survey Results
Close to 400 individual tourism operators, event organisers and hospitality venues took the time last week to complete the latest TICT Tasmanian Tourism Industry Sentiment Survey.
This is among the highest ever response rates to our twice-yearly industry surveys, so thank you for helping to paint a much clearer picture of the current state of the Tasmanian visitor economy.
The respondents represent a very true representation of the industry, with 50% of operators who completed the survey operating in southern Tasmania, and the other 50% operating throughout the rest of the state. 80% of respondents are small businesses employing less than 5 Full Time Equivalent Employees, or Owner-Operator businesses. Two-thirds of respondents are tourism accredited.
The Results:
Not unexpectedly, the survey results present a very mixed bag of business expectations as we head towards the summer months, and borders re-opening to Victoria and NSW on 15 December.
Around half our survey respondents said they were now expecting their business activity to be up this summer on the same time last year. However, a further 25% of respondents said they were currently forecasting their business activity to be down on last summer, with the remainder saying they have not even begun their COVID recovery.
Encouragingly, 60% of respondents report an increase in bookings and enquiries since the Tasmanian Government announced borders will re-open to the eastern seaboard states on 15 December. This rate will only strengthen as we get closer to the peak visitor season and people in Victoria and NSW start to feel more confident in booking travel.
To this end, the Tasmanian Government’s requirement for visitors to be tested within 72 hours of entering the state is expected to impact business activity. 24% of respondents said they thought this condition of entering will have a major impact on their forward bookings, while a further 40% expect it to have some impact on their business activity.
It’s important to acknowledge on Friday the Tasmanian Government further clarified this mandatory testing requirement, and confirmed it will be a condition of entry for visitors from declared hot spots only.
Clearly, this testing requirement will be an ongoing point of uncertainty for both the travelling public and operators, but the COVID situation is continuing to evolve rapidly, as are Tasmania’s public health directives and border restrictions.
The urgency in rebuilding our workforce, and genuinely tackling the long-term skills shortages across the tourism and hospitality sectors, is illustrated by the fact 40% of survey respondents said they have skills and staff shortages in their business right now.
Staff and skill shortages are emerging as the critical risk to our tourism recovery in 2022, and you can expect to see and hear a lot more over the coming weeks about the industry and government strategies to address this.
Finally – and most reassuringly – the results reaffirm the sense of optimism and positivity within the industry generally, as we look beyond the COVID disruption.
72% of survey respondents said they had a positive outlook for the industry over the next 12-months, while an amazing 84% said they had a positive outlook for the Tasmanian tourism industry over the next 5-years. This has got to give heart to everyone in the industry.
What you’ve told us:
Many survey respondents went to a lot of time and effort outlining specific concerns and questions they had – or sharing their perspectives on the industry outlook and topical issues. We value these comments even more than the survey data, so thank you to those who went to the trouble.
Overwhelmingly the number one issue raised in the comments was uncertainty around operating conditions for tourism operators post 15 December.
What is the government policy going to be around vaccines? Will it be mandatory to be vaccinated to enter a hospitality workplace? Am I within my rights to refuse service to non-vaccinated guests?
What will the procedures be if there a close contact in my business? What do I do if an employee is symptomatic? How likely will there be further lockdowns, or forced business closures?
These are all urgent and important questions that need answering. TICT is expecting the Tasmanian Government to start providing some clearer advice to businesses over the next couple of weeks.
We’re in daily discussions with the government around some of these issues, and the comments left by our survey respondents have been very important in demonstrating to the government the urgency now in resolving these uncertainties for many Tasmanian businesses.
All the survey results have been considered carefully by the TICT board at our board meeting last Friday, and have been provided to Tourism Tasmania and other senior levels of the Tasmanian Government.
