Qantas draws fire from Australian ski industry

The Australian flag carrier has upset the country’s snow skiing industry.

Travel Insurance News - 04/06/2012

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The Australian flag carrier has upset the country’s snow skiing industry.

Reports said this week that industry figureheads are furious with Qantas’ decision to endorse skiing in nearby New Zealand via a new AUD $4 million (£2.5 million) promotional contract signed with the country’s government this week.

Colin Hackworth, chief executive of Snow Australia, said that the move by the carrier was “very disappointing”, noting that New Zealand was its direct competitor and that local business were amid fierce competition with those in the neighbouring nation. He said that the industry in Australia was trying “really, really hard” and that it was unacceptable for the government to allow another government to come into the local market to “launch a raid”.

According to Snow Australia, New Zealand now takes around a quarter of Australia’s snow holiday market. Hackworth said that meanwhile local businesses receive little to no support from the Australian government despite being an AUD $1.7 billion (£1.1 billion) industry that supports some 17,000 jobs – many of them regional.

A spokesman for Qantas said that the airline still engages in an AUD $44 million (£27 million) tourism campaign with Tourism Australia and continuously highlights Australia’s tourism attractions on every one of its flights.

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