Tourism and Events Industry encourages Australians to download and use COVIDSafe app

The Tourism and Events industry peak bodies are supporting the COVIDSafe app and encourages even more Australians to download and use the COVIDSafe app saying it was the next step in the containment of COVID 19 and would help to hasten the easing of current restrictions and social distancing measures.

The industry represented by the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF), the Accommodation Association (AA), Cruise Lines International Australasia (CLIA), the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) the Restaurant and Catering Association (RCA) and the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) said the rapid take up of the COVIDSafe app shows how seriously Australians are treating the response to this challenge, both in terms of their health, but also a desire for a return to some form of normality as soon as possible.

In a statement released yesterday (28th April 2020), the industry’s peak bodies advise “we welcome this initiative from the Federal Government to use the power of technology for contact tracing to ensure they can quickly identify the origins of new cases of COVID 19 and Australians have already embraced the app to the tune of 2 million downloads in the less than two days since its launch on Sunday.

“The more widely this app is used, the more quickly the Federal and State and Territory Governments will be able to ease restrictions as we enter the economic recovery phase.

“Our industries are losing some $9.6 billion every month that the pandemic continues and are forecasting job losses of 370,000 if it continues through 2020. However, if we keep working together, including embracing this new technology, we will survive this crisis and come out the other side intact.”