Tourism to provide growth in Queensland
by Leon Gettler
Tourism, along with related industries like accommodation, food preparation, international education and construction, is expected to more than compensate for the job losses in Queensland associated with the mining downturn.
Research from the Australia Institute shows that most of the new jobs over the next decade will come out of the services industry which includes tourism, health and community services, education and professional services.
Queensland Tourism Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the tourism sector will be a huge boost for the state's economy.
"That's always been the case, but perhaps we were pushed into the background by the resources boom that delivered significant export earnings to the state, but even then tourism provided the bulk of employment," Mr Gschwind told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Now, with the change of fortunes, the prominence of tourism and the service industries is more evident again and the growth in our sectors is obviously quite dramatic and helped by the changing export environment and having the dollar at a more realistic level."
The news comes as Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt told a Queensland jobs summit that next week’s state budget will focus on boosting jobs in regional Queensland where unemployment remains steepest.
He said emerging tourism industry sectors are set to generate 25,000 new jobs in the future.
"You can expect that tourism itself will play a major part in not just the Budget, but in a range of things that the Palaszczuk government will do in the remainder of this term," Mr Pitt said.
Mr Gschwind told the Summit that tourism in regional Queensland could be in for a period of significant growth.
"We have strong growth prospects in Asia, in Europe, in America and the domestic tourism market is also increasing dramatically," Mr Gschwind said.
"There are thousands of businesses delivering jobs into regional Queensland where they are needed and where the community can benefit from them," he said.
"If we build on our assets, if we make the investment and value our national environment we will be able to build a tourism industry that is very sustainable and resilient for the future."
April 27th 2016
