With International arrivals down 99.7%, how can the Australian tourism industry recover?

With a 99.7% decrease in passenger arrivals over the last 6 months, the Australian tourism industry has been one of the hardest hit by the global pandemic. So, too, are the thousands of businesses in the country which rely on tourism.

However, the six-and-a-half million Australians who took leisure trips off shore last year won’t be able to this year prompting an adaptive decision from Phillipa Harrison, Managing Director of Tourism Australia, to help Australians re-discover their own backyard.

Speaking recently on UNSW Australia Graduate School of Management’s new podcast, The Business Of… Phillipa Harrison along with Quirin Schwaighofer, Co-CEO and Co Founder of MadeComfy, shared their first-hand perspectives into how the country’s travel sector is adapting to the COVID crisis and closed international borders.

About the episode
Today’s leaders are required to be adaptable and resilient with a growth mindset that equips them to navigate complexity and lead people and organisations effectively during times of crisis. The unprecedented disruption of 2020 means leaders must look for opportunities to create new business models as they respond, reset, recover, and rebuild.

In this episode of the AGSM ‘Business Of…’ podcast we look at Adaptive Leadership, and turn our attention to the tourism industry, one of the hardest hit by the global pandemic. A global health crisis, travel restrictions, border closures, the cancellation of major events and a continent ravaged by summer bushfires have decimated the many Australian businesses relying on tourism this year.

For some first-hand perspective into how the country’s tourism sector is adapting during the crisis, host Emma Lo Russo is joined by Phillipa Harrison, managing director at Tourism Australia. We also hear from Quirin Schwaighofer, Co-CEO and Co Founder of Australian accommodation innovator, MadeComfy, who despite unprecedented disruption, uncovered growth opportunities for his business and a way to support essential workers during the early stages of the pandemic.

Finally, Richard Holden, professor of economics at UNSW Business School, shares his insights on how we, as leaders, can navigate the long and short term challenges on the road to recovery.

Speakers:
Emma Lo Russo, (AGSM MBA Executive 2013), CEO and Co-founder of Digivizer
Phillipa Harrison, (AGSM MBA Executive, 2007), Managing Director at Tourism Australia
Quirin Schwaighofer, (AGSM MBA Executive, 2013), Co-CEO and Co Founder of MadeComfy,
Professor Richard Holden, Professor of economics at UNSW Business School.

Website: www.business.unsw.edu.au/agsm/the-business-of/adaptive-leadership

Website: www.theholidayandtravelmagazineblogspot.com.au