Aviation grants and tourism loans anticipated

Aviation grants and business loans are expected to replace JobKeeper’s payments when the wage subsidy system ends on March 31st.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will outline replacement pandemic support in Queensland later this week.

Daniel Gschwind of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council said operators across the state are calling for more assistance.

“There are many parts of our industry that are still struggling,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

“Cairns is an example, but it spans the full range of destinations.

“Even in Brisbane and here on the Gold Coast, we have tremendous problems with companies that can’t get international travelers, but also with domestic travelers with the uncertainty we’ve seen over the past 12 months.”

The Queensland government estimates that 50,000 jobs will be lost when JobKeeper ends on March 31, many in tourism-dependent regions.

Mr Gschwind hopes this is not the case but said it poses a real risk as many small businesses have already started downsizing.

“That risk obviously increases with the end of JobKeeper and we urge the federal and state governments to really look at all options to make sure we can maintain the skills,” he said.

“This is very important because if we lose the staff and skills it will be very, very difficult to get the economy going again when local and eventually international visitors return.

“And the costs for the federal and state governments will be much higher if we lose the staff, the skills and then have to deal with the damage.”