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Forgotten victims of Covid-19: struggling NSW tourism industry loses $ 6 billion ($ 153 million per DAY) during devastating school vacation lockdown
- Greater Sydney’s two-week lockdown covers the entire school holiday period
- Tourism industry set to lose over $ 6 billion in forecasted revenue
- The last three school vacation periods have been affected by a Covid-19 restriction
- Tourism bosses call for more subsidies and increased vaccine deployment rates
Tourism operators are calling for more support from the federal government, saying the latest lockdown will cost the industry more than $ 6 billion in lost revenue.
The two-week lockdown of Greater Sydney covering the entire New South Wales school vacation is expected to cost the ailing Australian tourism industry more than $ 6 billion.
The Tourism and Transportation Forum says the industry will struggle to survive more lockdowns, imploring the federal government to consider subsidies and urgently increase vaccine deployment rates.
Sydney’s two-week coronavirus lockdown (CBD pictured) is set to shake up the already struggling tourism industry as school vacation tourism income will be lost
He estimates the latest COVID-19 outbreak and border restrictions on residents of Sydney and New South Wales will devastate the mid-year school vacation period for travel-related businesses, with spending set to drop by 6 , $ 3 billion nationwide.
Forum chief Margy Osmond said New South Wales’ tourism sector would lose business worth $ 2.1 billion – or $ 153 million a day – nearly a third total losses forecast nationally for the holiday period.
This is the third consecutive school vacation that a COVID outbreak has forced a lockdown in a capital.
“While health remains the number one priority in dealing with COVID-19, I don’t know how long we will be able to survive as this uncertainty persists,†Ms. Osmond said on Monday.
The latest outbreak has demonstrated the importance of speeding up the vaccination program, she said.
“The tourism industry continues to suffer from a lack of international travel and Australians’ lack of confidence in the domestic travel market and in vacation planning is demonic, making it very difficult for businesses in our industry to stay afloat, â€Ms. Osmond said.
Bondi Beach is pictured on the first day of a city-wide lockdown, a tourist in New South Wales set to lose more than $ 2 billion during school holiday period
TTF data showed that in the equivalent 2019 school vacation, more than 1.7 million Australians traveled to the country, but the Sydney lockdown is expected to see that number drop by 73% – to approximately 460,000 travelers.
Australia now has outbreaks in New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, causing lockdowns, tighter restrictions and border closures.
This situation confirmed that the federal government’s decision to end Jobkeeper’s wage subsidy – especially for the tourism industry – in March “was somewhat shortsighted,” Ms. Osmond said.
“They will now have to look very seriously at another form of continued support to the tourism sector to ensure that we come out on the other side of the pandemic,” she said.
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