Like many in the sector, I sat down with an extra-large, extra-strong coffee and opened the Inquiry into Australia’s Tourism and International Education Sectors report.
I wasn’t sure whether this Koala ate the wrong gum leaf, but halfway through the foreword, I had a scratch of the head – why isn’t Tourism being mentioned? I was looking forward to the tourism aspect, especially the nexus between International Education and Tourism, that’s going to be the juicy part right? I returned to the cover page to make sure that the document was in fact the Inquiry into Australia’s tourism and international education sectors and not just international education.
I come to almost the end of the Chair’s Foreword, and the penny dropped, Senator O’Neill saying “While this document focuses on the education sector in its own right, it lays the foundations for a broader consideration of the significant intersection between international education and tourism in modern Australia.”
The Koala is still somewhat miffed – will there be another document on Tourism? When? If they were to be kept separate, why not two reviews? After all, half of the terms of reference pertained directly to Tourism:
1 in relation to tourism:
- the challenges and opportunities for growth in tourism and how Australia can reassert itself as a leader in the international tourism sector
- the effectiveness of recent tourism campaigns overseas
- the promotion of regional Australia as a world class international travel destination
- the role of Australia as a hub in support of tourism in the Asia Pacific region
- other related matters that may assist in the inquiry.
2 in relation to international education:
- challenges associated with the loss of international student numbers as a result of the significant disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and effective measures to attract and retain students to Australia
- online innovations in education delivery and potential opportunities to strengthen the sector’s resilience
- initiatives to ensure positive international student experience and support pathways to build their skills and contribute to Australia’s prosperity
- opportunities for international education to support strategic and foreign policy objectives.
Ho hum.. onto international education it is. I keep reading.
Section 1.4: Objectives and scope provide more clarity.
1.42
The purpose of this interim report is to produce a timely report on the international education sector. Whilst acknowledging that there is an intersection between tourism and international education as Australia rebuilds these sectors post-COVID, the Committee was focused on making specific recommendations to Government in a timely manner on international education. The Committee was mindful of the Government’s interest in this topic and the intersections it has with the Migration Review report published in July 2023 and the Universities Accord report due to be published in December 2023.
The Koala gets it. There’s a lot going on in International Education at the moment: The Universities Accord; The Nixon Review; and The Migration Review. It makes some sense to release this early.
I do maintain the nexus to Tourism was always going to be the interesting part. Though glimpses of it are threaded through the document, the holistic picture is the main game.
Why the relationship between Tourism and International Education matters
For some time now those in the know have argued that International Education promotion in Australia is underfunded compared to Tourism. To this point, we’ve had plenty of anecdotal evidence but little hard, hang your hat on, evidence.
It’s now clear, and the interim report shines a light on it:
Tourism Australia spent $57.7 million in advertising and research in 2021/22, Austrade’s marketing spend for international education for the same year (2021/22) was $6,883,923. (Page22)
Well and good. But what is the ROI I hear you ask? The inquiry also captured this:
Study Australia’s budget is extremely modest given the direct revenue and soft power influences potential of international education for Australia. International education revenue (including students here under 12 months and over 12 months) generates sixty-eight per cent of international tourism spend in Australia. (Page 21)
COVID made this point more starkly in terms of the decline in income. In CMM (4/10/22) Alan Olsen, from consultants Strategy, Policy, and Research in Education (SPRE) looked at the export impact of education through the pandemic. In 2019-2021, the value of education as an export nearly halved, from $40.3 bn in 2019 to $22bn in 2021. But the value of tourism as an export just about disappeared, from $22.6bn in 2019 to $0.412bn in 2021.
So, as the government sets out on a new quality and integrity push that won’t be cheap to promote offshore, just how much of Tourism’s cash stash will come across to International Ed, where it probably should have been, to begin with?
