Port Lincoln tourism suffers big blow from cancellations following SA COVID-19 lockdown

Regional travel has been dealt another major blow – with one Port Lincoln hotel experiencing hundreds of cancellations – just as the industry began to show signs of life.

Port Lincoln Hotel rooms division manager Katherine Arthur and duty manager Chelsea Jones. The hotel was hit with hundreds of cancellations following the announcement of the statewide lockdown. Picture: Robert Lang

Huge numbers of cancellations due to SA’s short-lived lockdown have dealt the Port Lincoln tourism industry a crushing blow, just as it began to show signs of recovery.

Port Lincoln Hotel rooms division manager Kathrine Arthur said the regional accommodation venue was hit with hundreds of cancellation requests on Wednesday following the announcement of the statewide shutdown.

While the lockdown – in response to the Adelaide COVID-19 cluster – lasted just three days, Ms Arthur said more than a week of revenue had been lost.

“Probably within 15 minutes of the (lockdown) announcement we started getting calls from people looking to cancel,” Ms Arthur said.

Port Lincoln hotel was hit hard by last weeks state wide shutdown having it hundreds of cancellations come through. Picture: Supplied

“From Sunday night when the first lot of restrictions were announced through to Wednesday night we saw around 350 cancellations come through and then another 700 room nights cancelled.

“So the tally is well over 1000 room nights cancelled within that four day period.

“It’s mainly cancellations over the next two weeks to three weeks with a few cancelling a little further off who were a bit unsure.”

While the original proposed six-day lockdown only lasted three days, Ms Arthur said it would take some time for people to regain their confidence in travelling.

“Some people are already back on the road and we’ve seen people come through this week, but from a business perspective it will take a lot to get back this seven to ten day period of revenue that we’ve lost,” she said.

“But it’s also the events, school formals, work parties, people’s dinners, our hearts go out to all those people who have had to miss out on all their fun activities and events.”

The blow to tourism last week came at the same time as the cancellation of the town’s biggest annual event – Tunarama – which was called off for 2021.

Port Lincoln Council tourism development officer Naomi Blacker said the damage had been done to regional SA, despite the lockdown lifting earlier than expected.

“The tourism industry was just going gangbusters here,” Ms Blacker said.

An empty Tasman Terrace in Port Lincoln just hours before the state government announced the six-day lockdown would end early. Picture: Emily Jarvis

“We were just riding a wave of recovery, it was fantastic and it looked set to continue with borders set to open up before Christmas time, tourism was looking quiet strong again, but this just pulled the rug out from everybody.

“It’s time and money that you’ll never get back.

“The industry will work really hard to get back on our feet, we will put everything we have into promoting Port Lincoln and the Lower Eyre Peninsula.”

Over the October school holidays, the staff at the Port Lincoln visitors information centre undertook over 60 surveys to find out who and where our tourists were coming from.

The results showed 67 per cent were first-time visitors to the seafood capital with 64 per cent staying for up to a week.

Local activities a such as sightseeing, dining out and hitting our national parks were at the top of the list while other activities such as shopping and taking part of locally operated tours.