Submission and Letter to: Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sector (VIC)

The Accommodation Association makes this submission to the Standing Committee on Economy and Infrastructure’ Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events. The impact of COVID-19 on the Victorian Tourism Accommodation Sector saw losses in room revenue alone, top $1.7 billion as of year ending February 2021 according to modelling conducted by AHS Advisory. COVID-19 is now the single largest peacetime economic contraction for our Sector which has resulted in significant job losses across the accommodation sector. While many other sectors have rebounded quickly, the modelling undertaken by AHS Advisory demonstrates that the path to recovery for the tourism accommodation sector will take at least four years.