‘There’s going to be carnage’: Red Centre tour operators brace for JobKeeper ‘cliff’

TOURISM operators in Central Australia are walking on a ‘knife’s edge’ with bookings for the upcoming peak season looking disappointing

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TOURISM operators in Central Australia are walking on a “knife’s edge” with bookings for the upcoming peak season looking disappointing and the end of JobKeeper looming.

Emu Run co-owner Patrick Bedford said his tour company would be at “serious risk” when JobKeeper ended on March 28 after hardly making any income in the past 12 months.

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“Our market is mainly domestic and international, so we’ve gone from a $5 million-plus business to nothing,” he said.

The business downsized from 36 to 14 staff last year and could lose even more due to JobKeeper ending.

Chris Hill from Uluru Camel Tours said he might have to lay off five more employees after his workforce shrunk from 22 to 14 last year.

Patrick Bedford

“We desperately need a JobKeeper extension – we’re losing money, and our forward bookings are down by 90 per cent,” he said.

Wayoutback Safaris director Don Wait said after 22 years in business, he would need to “reconsider everything” when JobKeeper ended. He said they had gone from 70 employees to eight, all of which are on JobKeeper.

“Take JobKeeper out of the equation and add a below-average peak season and there’s going to be carnage,” he said.

About 1900 Territorians were still relying on JobKeeper at the end of November, according to the Australian Taxation Office.

Chris Hill said his Uluru Camel Tours business had seen bookings down by 90 per cent

In a survey conducted by Tourism Central Australia, 80 per cent of respondents said the JobKeeper cliff would significantly impact their business. Only 11 per cent said their forward bookings for the year were looking good.

Chief executive Danial Rochford said he spoke to a tour operator who has typically 1000 bookings this time of year but only had about 30.

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“Most of our tour operators have been on a knife’s edge with JobKeeper ending,” he said. “All of the tour bus operators are the ones that are hurting most because they didn’t benefit from the Territory Tourism Vouchers at all.

“Only 15 per cent of vouchers were used down here.”

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