Health and wellness the answer to Victoria's tourism woes
More than two thirds of Victorian tourism operators doubt their ability to reopen within the next three months, even as coronavirus restrictions begin to ease.
But domestic tourists' hunger for open spaces and health and wellness experiences is seen as a step out of the industry's woes.
Close to 400 responses to a Victorian Tourism Industry Council survey, the most respondents ever from its 1500 members, also showed more than half of businesses were still uncertain about reopening within the next six months.
Sentiment surveys show a pent-up hunger for drive holidays and health & wellness experiences as the state emerges from COVID-19 restrictions.
The survey closed on Tuesday last week, which was after national cabinet agreed to the goal of reaching Australia's "new normal", including gatherings of up to 100 people, by July.
Among operators' concerns is the "one size fits all" approach to public gatherings, according to council chief executive Felicia Mariani.
For example, in the second phase of the wind-backs outlined by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on May 8, large spaces like zoos or sanctuaries can only accept 20 patrons at a time, the same number as smaller physical spaces such as cafes and restaurants.
"To say 20 people and that’s the rule, it shouldn't actually unfold that way," Ms Mariani said. "For the industry to reanimate properly we need to appreciate that different parts of our industry have the ability to manage some of these requirements quite differently."
The survey also lays bare the coronavirus' devastation on the sector's workforce.
Casual staff have been most brutally affected – the average number of employees has plummeted from 17 per business to two, with only a quarter of operators saying they have been able to maintain any semblance of usual operations.
Part-timers have halved from six to three.
The medium revenue loss for council members, who range from microbusinesses to multinationals, has been $90,000, according to the survey, however 14 percent have reported losses in excess of $1 million and as high as $100 million.
Ms Mariani said most businesses were focused on survival to Christmas, with the hope they could begin rebuilding in January.
Even then, she said, the international market would likely remain dead for at least another year, possibly much longer, meaning businesses would have to stay afloat on domestic tourism only.
“We do have a captive audience and there is pent-up demand," she said. "People will want to travel again. If they’ve dreamed of a domestic holiday but never got around to it, this will be the time they do that.
“Drive will be a big part of that. So caravan and camping sees a huge opportunity.
“All the indications through the sentiment surveys are saying wide open space, nature-based tourism and health and wellness are the key experiences people are thinking about as we come out of a post-COVID isolation period.
“Health and wellness is quite a big offering within Victoria, even though we haven’t promoted that probably as strongly as we should have. So now we're really dialling that up because people will be looking for those experiences.”
She said initial guidance about social distancing, staff training and hygiene in the new normal had been helpful, but the industry was now looking to the Department of Health and Human Services for more specific information.
"We want to understand, here in Victoria, what our obligations are and we’re trying to engage in these discussions as we speak,” she said.