News & Announcements April 2020

As the Industry Advisory Organisation for the Queensland tourism and hospitality industry, QTIC work closely with government and industry on a range of workforce development skills matters and provide industry intelligence on workforce development strategies and training advice to government. Take a look at our April update below.

Despite all the uncertainty surrounding these times, we want to assure you that we are moving forward with our Indigenous projects.
 
Recently our First Nations Tourism Plan Working Group was established to guide the implementation of the action plan. This group has now met 3 times over Microsoft Teams and is making good progress with each meeting. One outcome from the meetings was to develop a survey that would help inform State and Federal governments on how best to help further support Indigenous tourism during this time and throughout the recovery. The survey was distributed to our Indigenous networks and received good responses.  Thank you to all that participated.

Here at QTIC we are currently focused on two dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis. On the now hand, we are very active on your behalf with state and federal governments for a number of pressing issues that operators have raised with us: payroll tax treatment of JobKeeper allowance, WorkCover liabilities, other state charges, Land tax, trade debtors and non-payment of services, the $1 billion federal support package implementation and a few more…. We are always keen to hear your concerns and what suggestions you might have.

The announcement by the Federal Government to provide $165 million backing for Qantas and Virgin to provide additional domestic air services was welcomed by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) as an important show of support.

QTIC Chief Executive, Daniel Gschwind said the Federal Government’s investment in essential air services would give much needed hope to businesses, including for the tourism industry.

There is a lot of information available about the various government support measures for businesses. We have listed just a few of the most helpful links for you below. They may help clarify some questions about the details of the JobSeeker allowance as well as state and federal loan facilities. For employers, an important aspect of the legislation passed in federal parliament is the temporary flexibility in relation to the Fair Work Act. This is an issue QTIC has advocated for strongly and in a phone conference yesterday, Minister Michaelia Cash confirmed some of the provisions that allow for flexibility on hours worked, pay rates and leave arrangements, during the current situation. It still protects employees from exploitation, as it should, but brings some commonsense into play.

It will be an Easter like no other and, from a tourism industry perspective at least, not in a good way. I sincerely hope that you can all experience some positive consequences of this situation, perhaps a more quiet time shared with family, getting things done around the house and other simple pleasures. From all of us here at QTIC, we do wish you a peaceful Easter with a strong sense of optimism about the future. All of us, I am sure, will be more determined than ever to work together, work with a strong sense of purpose and a clear sense of what is actually important. As an organisation, QTIC will do what it can to contribute and work for a strong tourism future.

Perhaps Easter is a good starting point for a brighter future, considering that it marks the (Northern hemisphere) spring equinox, a day where the amount of dark and the amount of daylight is exactly identical. Since ancient pagan times, this has told humanity that we're emerging from winter because the daylight and the dark have come back into balance. Good enough for me – even if we have to adapt it slightly for the Southern hemisphere…..

Happy Easter and beyond!

Daniel Gschwind
QTIC Chief Executive

Australia’s aviation market and the future of the tourism industry

Today we wrote to PM Scott Morrison asking for critical help for our aviation industry.

You can read the full letter below. 


 

 Banking Assistance Available 

---

With the industry welcoming the wage subsidy solution that we have sought from the Commonwealth Government, many operators are not in a position to come up with the cash to pay wages until May when the federal funding arrives.  We have sought advice directly from the Australian Banking Association and Anna Bligh.  An announcement was made today and we received this information.

Australia’s banks are indicating that they are supporting the JobKeeper program (updated fact sheet), while employees wait for the scheme to make the first payments,  Businesses may be able to use the upcoming JobKeeper program payment as a basis to seek credit in order to pay their employees until the first payment is made. 

The tourism industry, like the rest of the community, is facing exceptionally difficult times due to the impact of COVID-19. In the face of overwhelming adversity, the Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) is fast-tracking the launch of a Micro-Credentialing program, which will provide skilling solutions for immediate benefit to tourism and hospitality businesses and their employees.

The Minister for Employment, Small Business and Training has been very supportive of this initiative and has put the financial support of her department behind it. We appreciate the ongoing partnership with the Queensland Government in this program and more generally, especially at this time. To find out how your business and your employees can become involved in this opportunity, please click here and fill out the form to express your interest.

The tourism industry, like the rest of the community, is facing exceptionally difficult times due to the impact of COVID-19. In the face of overwhelming adversity, the Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) is fast-tracking the launch of a Micro-Credentialing program, which will provide skilling solutions for immediate benefit to tourism and hospitality businesses and their employees.

QTIC Chief Executive, Daniel Gschwind, “Our industry is always exposed to intense global competitive pressure and the current crisis is leaving operators with few means to improve their situation with their own resources.

“This program, delivered free-of-charge, is a unique opportunity to prepare for a strong recovery during this down-time.