What the bloody hell happened to all the tourists?

Crikey.com recently posted an interesting story about the sorry state of the Australian tourism industry. According to the article – which is supported by the latest World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) figures – Australia is currently being outgunned by every region on the planet in terms of tourist growth. Even war-ravaged countries like Lebanon and Israel have posted positive results, while sunny Australia lags behind. According to the World Tourism Organisation, in 2006, despite being ranked the world's most desired place to travel by numerous studies, and strong international tourist growth worldwide, Australia’s tourism numbers have gone backwards. The author of the Crikey article, Craig Kelly, points the finger at Tourism Australia, citing the ineffectual, “Where the Bloody Hell Are You?” campaign and the G’Day Australia junket as symptoms of the struggle to regain our post-Olympic position as a leading tourist destination. The current president of the Southern Sydney Retailers Association, Kelly says, “pedalling out a procession of celebrities like Russell Crowe and the Wiggles at the G'day Australia campaign in LA is just a bandaid solution – the real problem doesn't come down to PR, it's the iron grip that the Qantas/United Airlines duopoly has on the US/Australia air route”.

It’s an interesting point, and one that may will become a critical issue in this election year. Kelly’s theory is that the protection of Qantas is hampering Australia’s tourist industry, and handicapping our number one export while tourism expands everywhere else around the world.

Although this doesn’t directly reflect the current state of Australia’s business tourism, they are not unrelated.

In order to entice tourists of all kinds to come here rather than to Hawaii, South East Asia, Europe and the Caribbean, Kelly proposes that Australia follow Canada’s lead and establish a bilateral Open Skies agreement with the United States. The Canadian agreement lets any Canadian or U.S. airline offer trans-border services without restriction in terms of fares, flight frequencies or aircraft types.

Establishing something similar here may be a big ask, but then again, all that cosying up to George W has got to be good for something, right?