Bushfires and COVID-19: A tough year for Australia’s tourism industry
Australia’s crisis management is showing effect, and the curve has been flattened — for now. Regional travel bans are slowly being lifted — a step welcomed by hotels and tour operators. But not everyone will benefit.
Luxurious rooms with a private porch that make you want to have breakfast in the sun: providing bed and breakfast, ‘The Laurels’ is located between green meadows in the Kangaroo Valley, a two-hour drive south of Sydney. But the beds remain empty. First of all, the fires struck, then the coronavirus. “My husband and I have to live off our savings. I really don’t know how those in the accommodation business are surviving,” says Lindy Pitt, the owner of the guesthouse.
How COVID-19 disrupts tourism
Australia reached its coronavirus climax at the end of March, recording nearly 500 new cases per day. New restrictions were implemented on an almost daily basis. On March 25, Australia closed its borders, and just four days later the whole country went into lockdown with people only permitted to leave their homes for essential reasons.
Non-compliance carried a hefty fine of up to $1,500 (approximately 900 euros/US $ 982). In other words, international and regional tourism was simply impossible. What implications did that have for hotels, travel agents and tour operators?
No more sightseeing tours through Sydney harbor
“We started to see the effects of COVID-19 in late January when group travel from China was banned”, says Phil Boyle, Marketing Manager of the SeaLink Travel Group. The company runs several boat tour operators, including Captain Cook Cruises in Sydney. “We have been forced to suspend all tourism products. A skeleton team continues to operate our essential ferry services to keep commuters in Sydney moving,” Boyle explained.
It’s hard to predict how much longer the situation will remain like this. But there’s a small silver lining – Australia’s quick response to the crisis has paid off. Since the beginning of May, the number of new infections has been going down, the curve remains flat. Most states are reporting no or only very few new cases.
Back to normality: Australia’s three-step plan
On May 8, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison presented a three-step plan to reopen the country by the end of July. The first stage of this plan was to allow restaurants and cafés to open again with a limit of 10 guests at a time. Regional tourism was also high on the agenda, but international borders were to remain closed for the foreseeable future. Each Australian state was able to enact these measures according to their individual circumstances.
The region barely had time to recover from the fires before COVID-19 hit. Lifting some of the travel restrictions would be a first step in the right direction. Like many other hotels and guesthouses ‘The Laurels’ largely relies on wedding celebrations in the area. “We are hoping that the government will increase the numbers allowed at functions,” Pitt says. Due to the current maximum number of 10 guests only rule, many weddings have been postponed.
Regional tourism is not enough
Since May 15, Queenslanders have been allowed to take day trips again. It’s a step forward, but not everyone in the tourism industry is benefiting. Queensland’s main tourist attractions like the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island are especially popular among international travelers – who won’t be coming back for a while. “We rely heavily on international travel with the European market being a major market for us,” says Taryn Agius, owner of ‘Ocean Free’, a tour operator offering boat tours to the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns. For Agius, regional travel is a step back towards normality, but ‘Ocean Free’ and other reef operators won’t benefit. “For us it wouldn’t be financially viable with the present restriction on people numbers,” she says. Currently, only 10 people are allowed to gather in public in Queensland, keeping a minimum distance of 1.5 meters.
As long as restrictions are in place and international borders remain closed, it won’t get any easier for Australia’s tourism industry. But there is a small glimmer of hope: Australia and New Zealand have agreed to – at some point in the future – form a ‘trans-Tasman’ travel bubble, allowing free travel between the two nations.
Source: dw.com