CANBERRA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - As Australia fights to head off...

CANBERRA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - As Australia fights to head off
recession, the national government on Thursday urged workers to
take a holiday to help stimulate the economy.

The country's 11 million workers have hoarded about 121
million days of paid-leave entitlements which the government
wants to unlock to help stimulate a tourism sector hard hit by
the global downturn.

Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said tourism
officials would hold meetings with major employer groups next
week to kickstart a "No Leave, No Life" campaign.

Ferguson has set his eyes on the A$31 billion ($20 billion)
of holiday pay owed to workers and is leading the push to force
business to make sure employees take their accrued holidays, and
to encourage Australians to holiday at home.

"It is good for business, good for employees and potentially
good for our tourism industry as it faces some tough times
because of the global financial crisis," Ferguson said.

The holiday campaign comes after official data found
Australia's economy grew by just 0.1 percent in the September
quarter, its slowest rate of growth in eight years as consumers
pull back on spending.

Australia's tourism industry is worth about A$40 billion a
year, or about 4 percent of gross domestic product, generating
about 500,000 jobs. Tourists from overseas account for about 25
percent of the industry.

But the global downturn has led to a sharp decline in visitor
numbers, particularly from key markets such as Japan and the
United States, both now in recession, and from Britain.

The global slowdown has also prompted Australia's flag
carrier Qantas to cut some flights from Japan to
Australia's tropical northern tourist centre of Cairns, and to
put smaller planes on other flights.



SOMBRE MOOD

Australian full-time workers are entitled to a minimum four
weeks annual leave and 10 public holidays each year. But many
don't take their full holidays for fear of losing their jobs or
falling behind on work.

Tourism officials are banking on a new advertising campaign
in 22 countries, on the back of the new film "Australia" starring
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, which urges tourists to escape
the rat race at home and lose themselves in Australia.

But tourism companies want the government to do more to help
restore domestic consumer confidence, get people to spend on
holidays and overturn the gloomy outlook in holiday spots.

"It's pretty sombre," said Kim Thomas, whose company can take
more than 1,000 tourists a day to islands on the Great Barrier
Reef off the northern Queensland state. Tourist numbers were down
around 20 percent on a year ago.

"We expect our numbers from Japan to reduce by about 50
percent by mid December. Up until now, they have been our largest
single international market. It will have a big impact."