�International tourist demand for Australia is still running high, and unless the domestic airline crisis is resolved soon, Australian�s themselves will be responsible for destroying the Aussie tourism industry�, says Grant Hunt, CEO of Voyages Hotels and Resorts, managers of Ayers Rock Resort and Ayers Rock Airport.

�My concern is that with all the talk of an international tourism downturn following the terrorist attacks in the United States, there has not been enough focus on replacing capacity to key tourism destinations such as Uluru (Ayers Rock) and that this is not only hurting the Northern Territory, but the Australian inbound tourism industry as a whole�, Mr Hunt said.

Mr Hunt said that 70% of visitors to Ayers Rock Resort are international. Since the crisis in the United States the company has been receiving double the normal number of enquiries into their call centre and 80% of those calls are reconfirmations of existing bookings or new bookings. �Tourism operators are very quick to respond to a downturn in one market, such as the United States, by finding alternative destinations and Australia is viewed very favourably. But if visitors cannot book flights to key Australian icons such as Uluru, we will just as quickly be overlooked.�

Mr Hunt says it is a golden opportunity for one of the remaining airlines to take advantage of ready-made and highly profitable business. The Sydney-Ayers Rock route is one of the most lucrative in the country. The company has approached both Virgin Blue and Qantas, and while both have expressed interest, Mr Hunt hopes that they will be able to move fast enough to stop the flood of cancellations from overseas.

Voyages� Director of Marketing and Sales, Nicholas Baker, says he has received letters from key industry partners in the UK warning that some clients have already cancelled their entire Australian itinerary purely because they could no longer travel to Uluru and that more will follow.

A spokesperson for one of the UK�s largest tour operators which brings 100,000 visitors to Australia each year said they are currently trying to rebook over 30,000 customers who had tickets with Ansett. �It is my belief that it will not only be Ayers Rock that will suffer as a result of insufficient air services to Central Australia. For many international travellers a holiday to Australia is still a trip of a lifetime and if they can�t visit the places they had always dreamt of seeing, such as Ayers Rock, then they won�t visit Australia at all,� she said.

October and November are traditionally peak season for the destination and only two weeks ago, Ayers Rock Resort was forecasting occupancies of 95% for the period. With the loss of between four and six Ansett flights per day, carrying 25% of visitors, this business is now in jeopardy and the knock-on effects will be felt throughout the country.

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Voyages Hotels and Resorts, formerly Ayers Rock Resort Management, is the leading hotel operator in the Red Centre, and manages the three major properties in the region: Ayers Rock Resort, Kings Canyon Resort and Alice Springs Resort. www.voyages.com.au

For more information, to arrange interviews, or for images contact: Lailani Burra, Acting Corporate Public Relations Manager, Ph: 61 2 9339 1000, 0418 815 210