Tours left half-empty and bookings wiped out after declaration of Sydney, Melbourne as hot spots

Territory tourism operators are reporting half-empty tour buses and mass cancellations this month in the aftermath of hot spots being declared after Covid-19 clusters in Sydney and Melbourne.

• Greater Sydney, Wollongong and Blue Mountains declared Covid-19 hot spots by NT Health
• Two Sydney local government areas declared Covid-19 hot spots by the Territory

TERRITORY tourism operators are reporting half-empty tour buses and mass cancellations this month in the aftermath of hot spots being declared after Covid-19 clusters in Sydney and Melbourne.

The NT’s tourism and hospitality industry has already been hit with cancellations since the NT slammed its borders shut to Sydney on Wednesday.

Kakadu Tourism spokesman Peter Hook said there had been a rush of cancellations at The Croc Hotel and Cooinda in the 24 hours that followed hot spot announcements.

“We have lost about 20 per cent of our bookings over the next three weeks,” he said.

The Crocodile Hotel in Kakadu National Park. Picture: Supplied

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Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce said many businesses were still scrambling to recover after Melbourne was declared a hot spot earlier this month, and tourists there cancelled their holiday bookings.

Health authorities have since revoked the hot spot declaration on Melbourne.

“Darwin accommodation providers are reporting hundreds of cancelled room nights per venue for the first two weeks of July,” Mr Bruce said.

“Our recent experience with Melbourne shows a significant number of those rooms will be able to be re-sold given the pent-up demand for domestic travel,” he said.

“But the picture is not as positive outside of Darwin where they are not getting the same rate of resell, especially in Central Australia.”

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce at Hotel Darwin. Picture: Che Chorley

In the Red Centre, Way-outback Desert Safaris founder Don Wait said the situation in Melbourne had a “dramatic effect” on his business. “In some cases, tours were running with half-full trucks after being fully booked,” he said.

“The latest Sydney hot spot issue has seen many passengers cancelling overnight on tours departing over the next couple of days.”

Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said they were expecting significant booking cancellations across the region for July.

Mr Bruce said there were growing frustrations in the industry with the slow vaccination rate across the country.