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II I, 7020 PRIME MINISTER
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE RON P J KEATING MP
HEWSON AND RuITH AND THE TOURISM TRAVESTY
on the 25th of February, the Shadow Treasurer, Mr Reith,
released a statement in which he said that the Coalition
envisaged employment growth in the tourism industry " of
more than 6 per cent per annum, generating around 400,000
extra jobs based on quite reasonable estimates of
million tourists by the end of the decade."
At best, this is fanciful arithmetic.
6 per cent growth in the tourism industry will create
275,000 new jobs, not 400,000.
Dr Hewson repeated the fallacy in the debate last night.
Dr Hewson repeated the Coalition's-forecast of 400,000
extra tourism jobs and 10 million tourists by the year
2000. More fanciful arithmetic.
million tourists would represent a growth rate of 17
to 18 per cent 50 per cent more than the peak in the
19809, and that was without a CST.
No one in the tourism industry is predicting growth as
high as 12 per cent. The forecasts are for up to 6.8
million. A CST would lead to these forecasts being revised down.
mhe introduction of a 7 per cent GST caused Canada to
drop from the fourth favourite international destination
of tourists to the twelfth. In New Zealand, the number
of international tourists also dieclined, and what is
more, . the number of New Zealanders taking their holidays
outside Now Zealand increased by well over 100 per cent,
as they took advantage of * GST-Free" packages.
Tourism is a classic example of the deception the
Coalition is practising in an effort to sell its
" plan".
The GST will tax tourism and restrict itsgrowth. it
will reduce the number of jobs not increase them.
2
Dr Howson and Mr Reith have plucked their figures out of
the air: the 400,000 tourism jobs, the 10 million new
tourists, the 2 million jobs by the year 2000. Their
arithmetic in wrong too wrong to escape the inference
that it is also deliberately deceitful.
SYDNEY 8 March 1993 7021