Alice Springs tourism operators see ‘quietest’ start to season ever

Alice Spring visitor numbers for March are down 30 per cent on pre-pandemic levels, with operators describing it as the ‘quietest start to the season’ ever. Read how they’re coping.

Alice Springs tourism operators say it's the quietest start to the tourism season they’ve seen, with numbers down significantly on pre-pandemic levels and up to $100,000 lost in cancellations.

It comes after the NT government stated new tourism figures showed 2022 was the biggest year for tourism expenditure in the region.

Alice Springs Reptile Centre owner Rex Neindorf said it was the quietest start to the tourism season he’d seen since he started the business in 2000.

He said the centre had received good bookings from school groups and through Ghan railway visitors, but otherwise it had been “really, really quiet”.

Alice Springs Reptile Centre owner Rex Neindorf said the start to this years tourism season was the quietest he had ever seen it.

“It’s the quietest I’ve seen it. We’ve had way less people than last year,” he said.

Mr Neindorf said generally most tourists came from Victoria, and he was hoping with the Victorian school holidays kicking off this week numbers climb.

He said he thought the rising cost of living was behind the lack of visitors.

“They’re saying that people are still travelling, but maybe it’s people from Victoria only wanting to travel as far as Victoria and New South Wales and not up here,” he said.

“We’re hoping the season will kick in soon.”

Angkerle Atwatye/Standley Chasm general manager Nova Pomare said she was concerned about the start to the season after a number of booking cancellations last week.

Standley Chasm, about 35 minutes from Alice Springs, had a ‘bumper’ Easter long weekend, after several booking cancellations the week before.

“We had a lot of cancellations, I was just worrying about keeping people employed,” she said.

“(But) this weekend has been massive for us. Easter Sunday was huge. We’re hoping to have another big day (Monday) with the public holiday.

“It’s been a really good weekend, there’s been lots of people from Parrtjima and then the locals and general public.”

She had been concerned media attention on Alice Springs earlier in the year, as well as news tourism operators would pull out of the area, would impact numbers, but was hopeful the season would pick up.

“People are still coming, it’s just a bit unpredictable. We’re going with the flow,” she said.

“With the school holidays, we’re hoping people will be moving around more.”

Last week, the Northern Territory government announced 2022 tourism figures showed a “record” year of spending in the Northern Territory, with tourism expenditure at $3.12bn.

Passengers and tourists arrive on the Alice Springs tarmac in January. The NT government has said 2022 was a record year for tourism in the territory, but other figures show a massive decrease on pre-pandemic levels.

For Central Australia, it said domestic holiday and business travel increased 21 per cent and 24 per cent respectively for the year ending December 2022 compared to 2021.

Tourism Minister Nicole Manison said every region in the Northern Territory recorded an increase in visitors in 2022.

“2023 is only looking to be bigger and better as we welcome back international travellers,” she said.

However, according to Tourism NT’s Alice Springs and MacDonnell Ranges region annual report card, visitor numbers to Alice Springs were down 44 per cent on June 2019 levels in the year ending June 2022.

Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said visitor figures were down significantly on pre-pandemic levels, with a “confluence of headwinds” causing the decline.

Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said the visitor figures it had for March 2023 were down 30 per cent on 2019 numbers.

It is understood one tourism operator had more than $100,000 in booking cancellations in a week in March.

“There has been a lot of concern. It’s been a very quiet March season,” he said.

“But we are ever hopeful it will pick up as it progresses.

“We need to remain optimistic.”

He said there were a number of factors behind the decrease, describing the situation as a “confluence of headwinds”.

“It’s the national media attention, the rising cost of living, the rising cost of fuel which is, again, cost of living, and then you’ve also got an increase in outbound visitation with the end of Covid-19.”