Restrictions crippling unique Cap Coast tour operator

SOCIAL distancing impacts Scott Ryan’s business more than most.

TOURISM BLOW: Scott Ryan's tourism business, Keppel Explorer, pictured in happier times, has been hit hard by the coronavirus shutdown and the three-stage Queensland Government recovery plan does little to help.

SOCIAL distancing impacts Scott Ryan’s business more than most.

And while others will be walking out of coronavirus restrictions, he will be crawling.

Mr Ryan operates tourism business Keppel Explorer which provides Great Keppel Island tours, group charters, scuba diving and whale watching off the Capricorn Coast.

The business’ losses since coronavirus hit run into the 10s of thousands of dollars, and it’s unlikely to be “business as usual” before September.

As Mr Ryan explained, at no point during the Queensland Government’s three-stage road to recovery plan, will restrictions be lifted enough for him to return to work.

“With the phases that they’ve presented, the challenges we face being a boutique tour operator will be far greater,” he said.

“It will affect everybody in the Whitsundays, and all around the Great Barrier Reef, operating small vessels.

“For us, there’s not a lot of space on deck, so to break even we need to put the bums in the seats really.

“I run a really small group which is a personalised, tailored tour.

“I fit 12 people onto a four-metre deck space.

“With the 1.5m restrictions, I’ll have to reduce the 12 people down to four to even be allowed to operate.

“On that, I wouldn’t even break even.”

The challenges for Mr Ryan don’t end there.

“I get first-time snorkellers so I’m helping people put their masks and snorkels on, you know it’s very close contact,” he said.

“I’m also helping people up and off the boat.

“It’s a very interactive experience, so how much contact I will be allowed to have with the guests, that will also determine when I can recommence operations.”

Mr Ryan said while during stage two from June 12, restrictions would lift enough for some tourism operators to resume, he was facing much longer on the sidelines.

“Tourism operators will have to have a COVID-safe plan to return then,” he said.

“But even during stages two and three, up until the end of July at the earliest, we still have the social distancing restrictions of 1.5m.

“That would leave us at four people and we couldn’t recommence operations on that.”

For Mr Ryan personally, 2020 has been a real hammer blow.

“When school commences for the year, that is when we really have our downtime for tourism in these areas,” he said.

“So anybody working on the Great Barrier Reef tends to take holidays during February.

“I took holidays for that month and I came back and operated one or two tours in March before I was shut down.

“So I’ve basically been off work since school came back in the last week of January.”

Mr Ryan said because he was a sole trader he was ineligible for any of the government’s coronavirus assistance packages.

“Because I don’t employ staff, I don’t even qualify for the bushfire benefits.”

Capricorn Enterprise CEO Mary Carroll this week said Queensland’s road map out of coronavirus lockdown kept the hand brake on too long for crippled CQ businesses.

She said the government’s three-stage recovery plan had not gone far enough, nor were restrictions eased quickly enough, for the region’s tourism industry and private sector operators.

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