The tourism industry has enthusiastically welcomed the Government’s move to stop all industrial action occurring at Qantas, saying it has suffered for months as customers remained uncertain over whether they would actually be able to fly.
The welcome comes as a Fair Work has ruled that Qantas can no longer lock out its staff, nor can unions continue with their industrial action.
Daniel Gschwind, chief executive of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council told SmartCompany this morning the entire situation over the past weekend was “devastating”.
“It was a deeply troubling situation when this happened. It was just completely devastating for the industry, which is still reeling from the natural disasters and everything that happened in Queensland earlier this year.”
“When you consider the entire workforce, we have tens of thousands of people just in Queensland who were affected earlier this year and work in this industry. It’s been incredibly hard.”
Although the tourism industry would have received some reprieve over the weekend with many hotels hurriedly taking last-minute bookings, the past six months have been filled with miscommunication and delays.
Corporate Travel Management chief executive Jamie Pherous says while the industrial action has been a big hit for the tourism industry, he also says it goes “far beyond” that.
“What I think this demonstrates, and I think a lot of people don’t appreciate this, is that Qantas is much more than just the tourism industry. It underpins the entire economy.”
“You have doctors moving around, freight not getting to places, people going to work on oil rigs, conferences, etc. Everywhere people are trying to get places, and so you have to appreciate the scale of this.”
But having said that, Pherous says the industry is collectively relieved the ordeal is over.
“What you want in this business is surety. You want an airline like Qantas to be strong, because other carriers simply can’t pick up the slack. They can’t, when Qantas has the vast majority of the market.”
“We booked $1.5 million worth of corporate travel yesterday, it was intense. It was a good exercise to show we can cope with something like that, but this is the entire economy. So we’re glad there’s some certainty now.”
Gschwind says the resumption of flights and an eventual end to industrial action will gives business owners some hope.
“The tourism industry suffered a $1.4 billion loss of visitor expenditure in the first quarter of this year. So to have all this resolved, makes us all extremely happy.”
“It provides much greater certainty to the public, and in our industry as a whole, it’s the most certainty we’ve had in several years. It’s the best outcome we could have hoped for.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
