Earn £777 million by staying at home
No, it's not one of those online survey jobs that promise to make you a millionaire at the touch of a button, nor does it have anything to do with buying a lottery ticket. Instead, it is the Australian Tourist industry lobbying the Government to fight the effects of the financial crisis by paying Australians up to £777 million to holiday at home...
Research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has shown that visitor numbers to the country have dropped significantly since 2007, in the wake of the ongoing credit crunch.
In order to cancel out this deficit, the Australian Tourist Board has started to look at ways to encourage locals to holiday at home this year, thus minimising the loss of income from tourist revenue.
Last year, holidaymakers arriving from China and Japan dropped by a whopping 20 per cent, as more people chose to stay closer to home and save some pennies.
Now, Australians are also being encouraged to travel to domestic locations. Australian Tourism Export Council Managing Director Matthew Hingerty said, "Australians should be given tax incentives to take their holiday leave.
"We have 121 million days of leave stored up.
"One of the ideas is to have an £18-a-day tax rebate for people who take their leave, or allow people to salary sacrifice a holiday package within their own country.
"That will help us trade our way out of our problems. We don't need a handout. We need some clever Government policies to innovate into new markets and to innovate with some new programs to get people to go on holidays in their own country," he added.
Aussie workers have been told to use their holiday allowance in an ad campaign launched by the Australian Government intended to support the country's leisure industry.
The campaign, entitled ‘No Leave, No Life,' aims to encourage Australia's 11 million workers to use up the millions of days of paid leave they have been hoarding, said to be worth around £13.6 billion.
Research found that many Australian full-time workers, who are entitled to a minimum four weeks annual leave and 10 public holidays each year, were not taking their full entitlement for fear of losing their jobs or falling behind on work.
Australia's Government hopes the campaign will breathe life into its tourism and hospitality industries.
Only last week...
Last week, Tourism Australia's independent forecasting committee predicted that 2009 would see the biggest drop in overseas visitors since the pilots' strike 20 years earlier.
"The figures are far worse than expected. This year's predicted slump in inbound tourism will see 200,000 fewer international tourists, costing £457 million in foreign income," he added.
A proposed stimulus package is currently in the pipeline between the National Tourism Alliance and the Office of Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson, which could stretch to £777 million.
Fit for a Queen
As Queensland is one of the states in Australia which relies most heavily on revenue from tourists, it stands to be one of the hardest hit by the declining visitor numbers.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has urged people to holiday in the Sunshine State in an attempt to stave off large job losses in the tourism industry.
Ms Bligh said that a strong domestic tourism industry would help retain jobs.
"Ultimately, it's a simple message - holiday at home and give a Queenslander a job.
"Securing the state's jobs will be our number one priority over the next year.
"The ‘holiday at home' campaigns will continue for the next few months," added Ms Bligh.
Further from home
The bid to get Aussies to stay at home follows the launch of Tourism Australia's £19.5 million international campaign, urging foreigners to escape the rat race at home and unwind in Australia.
The campaign was launched on the back of Baz Luhrmann's new film ‘Australia.' starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.
Picture by Cyron