Tourism is a vulnerable industry, and is particularly sensitive to changes in traveller sentiment caused by changes to image or iconic status of the destination, or real or perceived threats to travellers.
Tourism is also a resilient industry and has demonstrated this by bouncing back from recent events such as the 11 September 2001 terrorism attack, Bali bombings (2002) and the SARS outbreak (2003).
Pandemic Preparedness and Planning for the Australian Tourism Industry
A threat to the tourism industry is the risk of an influenza pandemic in Australia, which unlike any other modern disaster, would create new challenges for communities and the businesses that operate within them.
For more information about measures and plans developed to deal with a pandemic, see our Pandemic Preparedness and Planning for the Australian Tourism Industry.
National Tourism Incident Response Plan
The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (RET) has developed a specific, all-hazards response plan for the Australian tourism sector: the National Tourism Incident Response Plan (NTIRP). The NTIRP facilitates an effective national response to potential major shocks to the industry. It provides a response framework and actions for the Australian, and state and territory governments to pursue in cooperation with industry to ensure detailed and targeted responses can be put in place quickly.