The teleconference now underway will decide whether to officially elevate the risk to the industry to code red, in line with the federal tourism department's initial assessment of the threat posed by the stranding of tens of thousands of passengers worldwide.

A category red rating will give the specially convened "cental incident management group" the power to make CEO-level decisions on responses to the crisis, provide midday updates to federal and state tourism ministers, daily bulletins to the industry, and centralise monitoring and media management.

Its members include federal, state and territory bureaucrats, Tourism Australia, the National Tourism Alliance, Tourism and Transport Forum, Australian Tourism Export Council and Australian Regional Tourism Network. 

The meeting is expected to break before the latest emergency hearing into the dispute by industrial umpire Fair Work Australia.

The federal tourism department's secretary Drew Clarke told the hearing last night of the "very limited window of opportunity" to minimise the damage done to brand Australia by the dispute, likening its potential impacts to a natural disaster.