The Federal Government’s commitment to funding for tourism, tax cuts and training in the recent Budget are all good news for the Australian restaurant and catering industry, says the industry’s key representative body.
Restaurant & Catering Australia said the Federal Government’s commitment to ongoing funding for the implementation of the Tourism White Paper was particularly good for the Australian restaurant and catering industry, while the further tax cuts announced were also expected to help to boost bums on seats.
“The budget has tax cuts that will undoubtedly result in additional spending in restaurants, funding to bring more of the right tourists to Australia and further measures to address the skills and labour shortage—all in all a great budget for restaurants,” said R&CA president Con Castrisos.
R&CA said that after the last budget the spend in restaurants, cafes and in catering businesses increased significantly as consumers felt more inclined to spend, even before the tax cuts materialised. It is expected that the further extensive tax cuts will increase the spend by consumers in Australia’s restaurants.
The restaurant and catering industry also will benefit greatly from the ongoing investment in promoting tourism and also through the product development aspects of the tourism package including the expansion of the Australian Tourism Development Program, Castrisos said. “With some 15% of spend form tourists being on meals, any additional visitation and particularly additional spend, will also find its way to the restaurant table.”
R&CA CEO John Hart said the new training initiatives in the Budget were also important for the industry as it tries to cope with a serious skills shortage. “In a labour intensive service industry, such as the restaurant and catering industry, the training initiatives in any budget are very important,” Hart said.
“The additional Australian Technical Colleges, support for apprentices and improvements to the provision of trade training will all help to overcome our skills shortage.”