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Australian Government to boost tourism promotion following bushfire downturn

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2020-02-19 13:33:14Xinhua Editor : Li Yan ECNS App Download

The Australian government will ramp-up tourism campaigns to counter a downturn caused by bushfires and the outbreak of coronavirus.

Simon Birmingham, the Minister for Trade and Tourism, told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) that Tourism Australia's focus will shift away from Asia in the short-term on account of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The government has been under pressure to sell Australia to the world in the wake of the bushfire crisis, which crippled the tourism industry in many regions.

A Chinese travel ban was put in place by the Australian government following the outbreak of COVID-19 in China.

More than 1.4 million people from the Chinese mainland visited Australia in 2019 - more than from any other country - and tourism bodies have predicted that the travel ban is costing the industry 1 billion Australian dollars (668 million U.S. dollars) per month.

"There are no silver bullets to ease the pain being felt by many tourism businesses at present, with global travel bookings down and Australia one of many nations feeling the impacts of coronavirus," Birmingham told the AFR.

"We have begun the planning required to ensure that when these temporary travel restrictions are lifted and as global travel confidence improves, Australia quickly re-establishes our place as a hugely popular, welcoming and safe destination for Chinese and other visitors."

Australian government in January announced a 76 million AUD (50.8 million USD) package to help the tourism industry recover from the bushfires.

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