Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) is the national industry association representing the interests of 52,500 restaurants, cafes, catering and takeaway businesses across Australia. R&CA delivers tangible outcomes to small businesses by influencing the policy decisions and regulations that impact the sector s operating environment. R&CA is committed to ensuring the industry is recognised as one of excellence, professionalism, profitability and sustainability. This includes advocating the broader social and economic contribution of the sector to industry and government stakeholders, as well as highlighting the value of the restaurant experience to the public. Top & Bottom Image: Tourism Australia Cover Image: Tourism Australia Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
Tourism and hospitality is one of Australia s super growth industries driving economic activity and creating jobs for Australians. Australia s visitor economy generates $113 billion and employs almost 1 million people across 267,000 businesses. The café, restaurant and takeaway sector is the largest employer across all tourism-related industries, employing 565,700 Australians, and contributing $15.5 billion to GDP. Future growth in the economy will be led by export services sectors such as tourism. Service exports have doubled over the past 20 years, with growth in tourism expenditure now occurring at a faster rate than the national economy. As one of five super-growth sectors, tourism and hospitality has the potential to collectively add $250 billion to the Australian economy over the next 20 years. Tourism and hospitality must therefore to be at the heart of Australia s economic development strategy. With traditional manufacturing in decline and a burgeoning middle class in Asia, Australia is quickly becoming the premier service hub of the Asia Pacific region. Our ability to seize opportunities presented by this position will largely depend on policy settings that support the visitor economy and encourage a flexible workforce, reduce red tape and promote Australia as the ultimate travel destination. As the peak industry association representing 52,500 hospitality businesses across Australia, R&CA is seeking commitment to visa reform, workplace flexibility, reduced tax complexity and bolstered tourism marketing to ensure this sector continues to serve a strong economy.
businesses feel a variety of pinch points from both the regulatory and operating environment. Government can support the sector by minimising red tape and stimulating the economy to create demand for tourism and hospitality experiences. The main pinch points felt by the sector that reduce productivity and growth include:
The industry has endorsed the Tourism 2020 target of doubling overnight expenditure to $140 billion by 2020. Achieving this ambitious stretch target will require a concerted effort to boost productivity and grow the visitor economy. The hospitality sector will play a vital role in achieving this target, recognising that one in five dollars spent by international visitors is on food and wine while in Australia. The employment potential of achieving this target is significant; jobs growth in the café and restaurant sector alone is expected to reach 14.9 per cent or 84,300 additional jobs by 2020. In order to meet growth targets and continue to make a valuable contribution to the economy and employment, the government must back this super growth sector. The tourism and hospitality sector requires: Top Image: Tourism Australia Time Out Australia Bottom Image: The Lane Vineyard, SA
Hospitality is a labour intensive industry that operates 7 days a week. The industry requires a flexible workplace relations system that recognises the inherent differences of the industry to traditional nine to five sectors. Wages and staff on-costs represent on average 44.0 per cent of business expenses, rendering some businesses unviable and unable to trade on certain days. This in turn affects employment opportunities, our tourism offering, and the sustainability of small business. R&CA advocates:
Labour and skills shortages affect the productivity and growth of the visitor economy. The sector is currently experiencing a shortfall of 38,000 staff with this number expected to increase to 123,000 by 2020. Skills shortages are greatest amongst cooks, chefs and restaurant managers. Training Australians must remain a priority. However, Australia s temporary migration system provides a short-term solution to addressing chronic labour shortages affecting the sector. R&CA advocates:
representing 1.2 per cent of GDP and 14 per cent of tax revenue collected. Service businesses such as restaurants bear a disproportionate tax burden due to their labour intensity and customer facing nature. Payroll tax, superannuation, fringe benefits tax and GST all represent a greater proportion of hospitality revenues compared to small businesses in other sectors. Simplification of the tax system would reduce the cost of compliance and encourage greater employment in small businesses. R&CA advocates:
Image: Tourism Australia Australia is an aspirational, long-haul tourism destination for many of our major international source markets. Competition for visitor dollars is fierce. Recognising the value of tourism and hospitality to the broader economy, neighbouring destinations have made significant investments in tourism marketing funding. The Singapore Tourism Board, for example, will receive a further S$700 million (US$511 million) boost over the next five years to improve innovation and growth in the sector. Marketing campaigns undertaken by Tourism Australia are critical to converting intention to travel to actual visitation. The return on investment is significant; injecting $15 dollars for every dollar spent on tourism marketing. If tourism is to continue to grow at a faster rate than the national economy, Tourism Australia must be sufficiently supported. Recognising Australia as a long-haul destination and the cost of travelling to Australia:
Image: Tourism Australia Montalto Vineyard & Olive Grove