Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA), the organisation recently established by the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) to service the tourism and accommodation sector, has announced additional funding of more than AUD$2.5 million for services and member benefits as part of its five-year strategic direction.
According to Rodger Powell, Managing Director of TAA, the strategy will provide the accommodation industry with the highest levels of service and representation.
“This new strategic plan, structure, funding model and suite of benefits will ensure that we grow and represent our members effectively in Canberra,” said Powell.
TAA, which represents almost 600 substantial accommodation operators at the state and national level, will continue to capitalise on the very strong presence already built for advocacy of industry issues in Canberra and all state capitals by the AHA.
“TAA will have a powerful, independent skills-based Board and new resources in its Sydney and Canberra offices to augment its strong presence in each state,” Powell said.
“We will continue to improve on what we are already good at and recognised for as the AHA’s accommodation arm – advocacy, industrial relations, legal support and networking, and we will work closely with the AHA on aligned issues when appropriate.
“In addition, we are investing close to half a million dollars in bringing a leading global hospitality education system to Australia that will service all levels of employees, from the entry level to executive. The impact of this will be to raise industry standards, with the flow on effect of protecting and retaining employees within our sector.
“We are also investing over a million dollars in a new best-practice industry intelligence system that will assist members to benchmark, understand and improve their businesses. The system will also inform our advocacy efforts.”
Under the strategy outlined, an advocacy fund has been established to allow TAA to respond quickly to changing industry needs and circumstances.
“We will ensure TAA has sufficient evidence-based information and data to emphatically support the industry position on behalf of our members,” said Powell.
“Our industrial relations and legal support will continue at its recognised level of excellence, and our industry networking success will be expanded to the National arena. Steps have been taken to ensure a greater consistency of product delivery and membership criteria from one state to another.”
The National President of the AHA, Peter Hurley, is supportive of the strategy.
“The entire National Executive of the AHA has unanimously supported the establishment of the new brand and organisation to effectively represent the needs of the accommodation sector,” said Hurley.
“We recognise that the Tourism Accommodation operators have specific and special needs that are sometimes divergent with the needs of the AHA’s other members and that they must to be served by their own Board, funding and strategy.”
According to TAA, a formal launch of the new organisation and strategic plan will take place soon, and details of each component within the plan will be released as they are finalised.