Tourism employment
Tourism employed 682,100 workers in 2020–21. This was made up of the:
- direct employment of 507,000 workers
- indirect employment of 175,100 workers.
Compared with previous years:
- direct tourism employment was down 20% on 2019-20, and 25% on 2018-19
- indirect tourism employment was down 36% on 2019-20, and 49% on 2018-19
- total tourism employment (direct plus indirect) was down 25% on 2019-20, and 33% on 2018-19.
All states and territories experienced falls in tourism employment in 2019-20. They also continued to experience falls in employment in 2020-21 (Table 4). Compared with 2018-19 levels:
- falls in direct employment ranged from 8.6% for Tas (down 1,400 workers) to 38% for Vic (down 69,600 workers)
- falls in indirect and direct employment ranged from 9.3% for SA (down 5,800 workers) to 54% for Vic (down 139,000 workers).
Table 4: Tourism employment by state and territory, 2020-21
|
State/territory
|
2020-21 direct employment ('000 workers)
|
2020-21 direct and indirect employment ('000 workers)
|
Change in direct employment from 2018-19
|
Change in direct and indirect employment from 2018-19
|
|
New South Wales
|
146.8 |
197.0
|
-25%
|
-32%
|
|
Victoria
|
109.8 |
120.0
|
-40%
|
-54%
|
|
Queensland
|
120.6 |
174.0
|
-18%
|
-24%
|
|
South Australia
|
37.3 |
56.5
|
-8.8%
|
-9.3%
|
|
Western Australia
|
56.3 |
78.4
|
-16%
|
-21%
|
|
Tasmania
|
20.6 |
33.6
|
-8.1%
|
-19%
|
|
Northern Territory
|
6.8 |
10.7
|
-20%
|
-29%
|
|
Australian Capital Territory
|
8.4
|
11.4
|
-25%
|
-37%
|
|
Total
|
507.0
|
682.1 |
-25%
|
-33%
|
Fluid labour market
The declines in tourism employment from 2018-19 occurred while Australia’s national workforce was growing. This reflects a very fluid labour market for Australia’s visitor economy.
Businesses were reducing workforces due to the downturn in demand. Some employees were also leaving tourism to:
- work in other sectors
- relocate to areas with better tourism employment prospects.
If a worker stayed with the same employer, they may not have counted towards Australia’s visitor economy to the same extent as before. This was due to visitors making up a smaller share of customers during the pandemic. For an individual business this meant employees spent less time providing services to visitors.
As a result:
- Tourism’s share of Australia’s workforce, based on direct employment, fell from 5.3% in 2018-19 to:
- 5.0% in 2019-20
- 3.9% in 2020-21.
- Tourism’s share of Australia’s workforce, based on direct and indirect employment, fell from 8% in 2018-19 to:
- 7.1% in 2019-20
- 5.3% in 2020-21
These falls in tourism’s workforce contribution were repeated across all states and territories (Table 5).
Table 5: Tourism share of state and territory employment, 2018-19 to 2020-21
|
State/territory
|
2020-21 direct share
|
2019-20 direct share
|
2018-19 direct share
|
2020-21 direct and indirect share (%)
|
2019-20 direct and indirect share)
|
2018-19 direct and indirect share
|
|
New South Wales
|
3.6%
|
4.4%
|
4.8%
|
4.8%
|
6.3%
|
7.1%
|
|
Victoria
|
3.3%
|
5.0%
|
5.4%
|
3.6%
|
6.9%
|
7.7%
|
|
Queensland
|
4.7%
|
5.5%
|
5.9%
|
6.7%
|
8.1%
|
9.1%
|
|
South Australia
|
4.4%
|
4.7%
|
4.8%
|
6.6%
|
6.8%
|
7.3%
|
|
Western Australia
|
4.1%
|
5.0%
|
5.0%
|
5.7%
|
7.0%
|
7.3%
|
|
Tasmania
|
8.0%
|
8.5%
|
9.0%
|
13.0%
|
14.5%
|
16.7%
|
|
Northern Territory
|
5.2%
|
5.7%
|
6.4%
|
8.2%
|
9.3%
|
11.4%
|
|
Australian Capital Territory
|
3.5%
|
4.0%
|
4.9%
|
4.8%
|
6.2%
|
8.0%
|
|
Total
|
3.9%
|
5.0%
|
5.3%
|
5.3%
|
7.1%
|
8.0%
|