The Queensland tourism industry was praying for a bumper Christmas-New Year bonanza to lift revenue badly impacted in recent times by the strong Australian dollar, GFC, slow domestic traffic, unrealised tourism promotions and the lure of overseas destinations; instead it has been hit by the worst possible scenario.
Queensland's worst ever floods are expected to cost the tourism industry well over $100 million as vast areas remain under water.
The drive market, in particular, has been devastated by road closures and evacuations of holiday parks throughout the state. Many areas, particularly Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Emerald and Dalby, have suffered total inundation and losses in the industry will be extreme.
Bundaberg North Burnett Tourism chairman Greg Barnes wants prospective visitors to know Bundaberg is open for business and needs people’s support.
Mr Barnes said since the new year, some operators had up to 40% of their bookings cancelled. “The flooding was a devastating event but from a tourism perspective we are back up and running,” he said.
“The highways are open, hotels are taking bookings and the roads in the CBD are open.”
Kelly’s Beach Resort in Bargara is just one of the region’s businesses to be hit with a number of cancellations. “Since the start of the new year people just started cancelling left, right and centre,” managing director Loni Hammond said.
“This is usually our busiest time, so it is pretty scary.”
"We shut down for a few days, then the water started to recede and we reopened because so many people couldn't get back out of town," said Brian Zemek, acting manager of the Burnett Riverside Quality Hotel. "Everyone is just trying to get the town up and running."
Hotel and motel managers are reporting very high vacancy rates across Gladstone, however, not from tourists coming to Gladstone, but from people trying to get to Rockhampton. Every day the Gladstone Marina has been packed with Central Queensland locals either coming to Gladstone or leaving for Rockhampton.
Gladstone Regional Council director of commercial and community services Cale Dendle said the Gladstone region has had its share of festive season travellers and visitors stranded, or unable to continue journeys. “Obviously, the closure of the Bruce Highway through Rockhampton also means that Gladstone is now the northern-most provincial city accessible by road from the south,” Mr Dendle said.
Mr Dendle added the closure of Rockhampton Airport has resulted in increased activity at the Gladstone Airport.
“The Capricorn Coast's peak 10-day trade over the Christmas and New Year period has on average suffered a 50% occupancy loss followed by a 70% loss for the remainder of January,'' said Capricorn Tourism and Economic Development’s CEO Mary Carroll.
Ms Carroll says the flooding has had a massive impact on all sectors including tourism, retail, mining, transport and real estate. "There's not one business that hasn't been affected from these floods whether directly or indirectly.”
Tourism Whitsundays chief executive officer Peter O’Reilly said caravan park operators and the backpacker market had been hardest hit since roads were cut due to widespread floodwaters.
“It’s obliterated the drive market,” Mr O’Reilly said. “One caravan park had 200 cancellations.”
The Airlie Beach Hotel had 170 room cancellations over the New Year’s period. General manager Mark Bell said some people didn’t travel to the Whitsundays because the roads were flooded, while others were reluctant to come in case they couldn’t get home again.
Mackay Tourism general manager Dave Phillips said Mackay accommodation providers had been getting a lot of cancellations since the floods hit. “People can’t get here, however, some people already here can’t move on,” Mr Phillips said.
Greyhound chief operating officer Tony Hopkins said services to many regional Queensland areas have been disrupted due to severe flooding and road closures. All customers booked on the affected services have been informed by call centre staff in advance and are able to open date their ticket for future travel.
Rockhampton Airport remains closed, with operations not expected to resume until at least January 11. QantasLink has already cancelled all flights to and from Rockhampton with further disruptions expected once the clean up begins. Brisbane Airport Corporation has pledged its support by donating $250,000 to the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal.
The CEO of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, Daniel Gschwind, says while the floods could cost the tourism industry $100 million the perceptual damage could be even greater.
“We don't know how many perception issues we will have to deal with, with people from interstate or possibly overseas concluding that going to Queensland is not a good idea, despite the fact that our major tourism destinations are perfectly fine and open for business.
We are very worried people will draw the wrong conclusion and assume the entire state of Queensland is somehow under water.
“We are a perception-driven industry and that often causes us more damage than the actual event, and that's a great concern to us.''
The difficulty, he says, is to get the message out that while the flood disaster is serious and businesses in the impact zones are suffering greatly, the majority of the state's tourism hot spots are unaffected.
Mr Gschwind said operators in the flood zones were really hurting.
“The regions around Rockhampton and Bundaberg contribute about $550 million to the economy in any given year,'' he said. “You take out effectively what will be a month, possibly two, you are talking in the tens - possibly up to $100 million of lost business just from those regions alone.''
Prime minister Julia Gillard and premier Anna Bligh have announced that small businesses and primary producers in 13 local government areas will be eligible to receive grants of up to $25,000 for clean up and recovery.
This targeted financial assistance will help them minimise their economic losses as they embark on the very difficult recovery period that lies ahead and help businesses start trading as soon as possible.
The grants will be made available immediately to Banana, Barcaldine, Bundaberg, Somerset, Central Highlands, Cherbourg, Lockyer Valley, North Burnett, Scenic Rim, South Burnett, Southern Downs, Western Downs and Woorabinda. Toowoomba has been added since the original announcement.
For small business Category C grants will help operators resume trading as soon as possible, including establishment costs in temporary premises. Category C assistance does not compensate for income losses and is not intended to replace insurance. The grant scheme will run until 30 September 2011.
Concessional interest rate loans of up to $250,000 for small business operators and primary producers, as well as freight subsidies of up to $5000, are available.
The additional grants come on top of the range of assistance already being provided by both the Queensland government and the Australian government. The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment is available for people who have been significantly impacted by the floods.
No comments:
Post a Comment