‘Bizarre’ tourism boom in Kakadu despite COVID-19 and Wet season due tourism vouchers

KAKADU has recorded its best Wet season tourism figures in at least a decade after a ‘bizarre’ turnaround amid the pandemic, according to the region’s largest hotel and tour operator.

KAKADU has recorded its best Wet season tourism figures in at least a decade after a “bizarre” turnaround amid the pandemic, according to the region’s largest hotel and tour operator.

And the trend is expected to stretch into the Dry, putting Kakadu Tourism in a rare spot for the industry – the need for more staff during the times of coronavirus.

Kakadu has recorded its best Wet season tourism figures in at least a decade after a ‘bizarre’ turnaround amid the pandemic. Picture: Peter Eve

Kakadu Tourism spokesman Peter Hook said the government’s highly popular voucher scheme had worked as a “catalyst” for Territorians to tick the national park off their buckets lists.

The third round of Territory tourism vouchers, which went live on Monday night, were snapped up within 3.44 minutes.

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Tourism Minister Natasha Fyles has left the door open to funding another round of vouchers.

Vacancy rates at two of the Aboriginal-owned organisation’s accommodation facilities, the Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel in Jabiru and the Cooinda Lodge and Camping, surged in both December and January.

Mr Hook said Cooinda Lodge was 75 per cent full in January compared to just 39 per cent in the same month last year.

The Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel in Jabiru. Picture: Supplied

“It’s quite an amazing turnaround because midway through 2020, at the height of coronavirus, we were considering closing our hotels over the Wet season because without international and restricted interstate visitors, it was looking very bleak,” he said. “Interstate bookings are beginning to flow through, and if there is greater border certainty, we think it could be a bumper season for interstate travel.”

This means Kakadu Tourism’s “biggest problem” is a lack of skilled staff, as the organisation usually operates at 25 per cent capacity during the Wet and with international borders closed there is no seasonal workforce to turn to.

While tourism operators in Far North Queensland call for an extension to JobKeeper, Mr Hook said Kakadu Tourism was more concerned about getting people to fill jobs. “We have schemes at the moment to train locals,” he said.