NT’s $2.4 billion tourism industry could remain in hibernation until 2021 unless help comes soon

THE Northern Territory’s $2.4 billion tourism industry may have to remain in hibernation until April 2021 if it can’t scrape a living from the tail-end of the dry season, sector leaders have warned, as it is almost impossible to wage a comeback in the hotter off season.

THE Northern Territory’s $2.4 billion tourism industry may have to remain in hibernation until April 2021 if it can’t scrape a living from the tail-end of the dry season, sector leaders have warned, as it is almost impossible to wage a comeback in the hotter off season.

And the seasonality of Northern Australia, where travellers avoid or leave the region during the hotter months, will mean the tourism sector in the NT will struggle for up to 18 months longer than the rest of the country.

The dire warning from Tourism NT and Tourism Central Australia came as Tourism Minister Lauren Moss said she couldn’t say if the NT’s borders would or wouldn’t open for part of the dry season and it was looking likely that the sector’s recovery would “be in the wet season”.

“The wet season is the low season for the industry up here but we will be ready to move as soon as we can,” she said.

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Tourism Central Australia chairman Patrick Bedford said he didn’t think this was possible, and Tourism NT board of commissioners chair Michael Bridge said visitor demand would not be strong enough to realise a full bounceback.

Both leaders said there was a real risk of tourism businesses in the NT remaining in hibernation until April 2021 in order to stay alive.

Ms Moss said the reality was that part of the NT’s tourism sector would not survive the pandemic-induced economic downturn.

Yet the NT’s tourism sector, worth about $2.4 billion to the local economy annually, was yet to see its “darkest hour”, according to Mr Bedford.

“Once we hit September and come into the quietest part of the year, that is when the biggest fall is going to happen,” he said.

Mr Bridge said Tourism NT was advocating for the Federal Government to step in and provide stimulus packages beyond September for Northern Australia’s hardest hit sectors, like tourism and hospitality, as the region would emerge from the pandemic in the low season while the rest of the country could begin recovering in their peak visitation periods.

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Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has already flagged the possibility of using $60 billion in unspent JobKeeper funding to help the battered tourism industry beyond the program’s expiry in September.