(No Like Yet)
Published on : Thursday, December 24, 2020
Tourism businesses in regional Australia have lost up to 85% of summer bookings in a day with state borders closed to greater Sydney residents.
While the ban on international travel has shot up domestic tourism demand, popular destinations like the Whitsundays have been hit with cancelations from big-spending Sydneysiders who are incapable to travel interstate during what is normally one of the busiest weeks of the year for tourism operators.
“I’m devastated. I can’t tell you I was literally in tears,” said Laureth Rumble running the Elysian Retreat on Long Island in the Whitsundays with her family.
Rumble said that 99% of the resort’s business was traditionally from interstate and international travelers, with Sydney attracting a huge proportion of holidaymakers.
On Monday, Queensland shut its borders to anyone from greater Sydney until at least 8 January following a corona virus outbreak in the city’s northern beaches.
“When it was announced we had a whole lot of cancellations in one day. Where we were previously fully booked, we are now looking at about 85% vacancy around Christmas,” said Rumble.
Queensland’s acting tourism minister Scott Stewart said that travelers from greater Sydney usually make up 10% of holiday bookings in the sunshine state during summer.
He encouraged Sydneysiders to cancel their holiday bookings at the earliest to allow travelers from other states to book instead.
“We’re expecting strong interest from interstate and Queensland holidaymakers in cancelled bookings from greater Sydney,” Stewart said.
However, Rumble said that for her business, it is already far too late.
“We literally had people arriving the next day and the next day and the next day, and I’ve just wiped all of that from our calendar. There’s no way for us to fill that in three or four, five or even seven days. Our booking lead time is using 60 days … It’s an island, there are planes to book. We’ve got so many extra staff we’ve put on to deal with this busy season, and now I‘ve got to worry about paying all of their salaries with so few bookings. It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
Rumble added that this would have a unforeseen effect with hundreds of tours, boat trips, flights and other reservations canceled, and food suppliers in the area left out-of-pocket due to reduced demand from hotels.
Tourism Whitsundays CEO Tash Wheeler said that even if all bookings get replaced with Queensland locals, the region would still likely lose out.
“We might get people come and stay in our accommodation from regional Queensland, but they’re not necessarily spending that same amount of money on food and wine, tourism and all the fun things there are to do here. Which means that that expenditure and economic return isn’t being spread throughout regions, the same way someone from Sydney or Melbourne or, you know, Europe, would,” Wheeler said.
Tags: queensland