Southern tourists racing to return to Top End after interstate lockdowns end

Interstate tourists given the green light to re-enter the Territory are racing to get their flights and accommodation back.

INTERSTATE tourists who have been given the green light to re-enter the Territory are racing to get their flights and accommodation back.

The NT chief health officer revoked all hot spots in Victoria and South Australia – including Greater Melbourne and Greater Adelaide – from Tuesday night.

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce said eager tourists were contacting hotels across the Territory to get their cancelled holidays back on track.

“Already hotels are getting lots of calls from South Australians and Melburnians that had previously cancelled, trying to get their bookings back,” he said.

“With the right aviation options we are hopeful of a recovery in time for this weekend’s Cup Carnival and beyond.”

Darwin Turf Club (DTC) chief executive Brad Morgan welcomed the CHO’s decision to open the borders with Victorian and South Australia but said the change was not without issues.

“It’s been manic and chaotic,” Mr Morgan said.

“In some respects it’s fantastic news when we heard border restrictions were lifting because it will hopefully increase visitation and flow down into the local economy, but from an operational perspective it has caused a lot more confusion for our staff.”

Mr Morgan said the DTC had received hundreds of requests from people in Melbourne and Adelaide requesting tickets to the upcoming turf club events over the next few weeks.

“We’ve had so many highs and lows over previous weeks,” he said.

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“Time is now our biggest enemy to pulling it all off.”

Melburnian Manny Galouzis said it was a “miracle” he could catch his flight, which is now booked for Thursday morning. “I’ve just kept waiting and waiting,” he said. “My flights have been changed or cancelled six times now.”

Mr Galouzis said he was meeting friends for the Darwin Cup, which he had been hoping to attend for more than 10 years. Luckily, he hadn’t cancelled his ticket to the races.

“I thought I’d leave it as long as possible,” he said.

“I thought it would be easier to get back to if by some miracle the borders opened back up, and that’s exactly what happened.”