Bushfires: Tourism’s $6.5bn pain: ‘our worst summer ever’

Hoteliers and tourism executives say the ‘worst summer on record’ has cost $2bn and could wipe $4.5bn more from the industry.

German tourists Celene Folta, 21, and her partner Maik Athenstadt, 21, meet the locals at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane on Wednesday. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Hoteliers and tourism executives say the “worst summer on record” has cost the nation $2bn and could wipe a further $4.5bn from the industry, as Tourism Australia unveils the first part of its multi-layered bushfire rescue package.

Domestic tourism has been hit by the fires and subsequent hazardous smoke, with the Australian Tourism Industry Council putting the immediate domestic impact at $2bn, factoring in the loss of business revenue, forward sales and the physical impact on tourism ­facilities and assets across ­bush­fire-ravaged regions.

“Australia is not immune to natural disasters but the concentration of these bushfires, ­combined with the spread and concentration of media and social media activity compromising our global brand, has taken this crisis to a different level,” said ATIC executive director Simon ­Westaway.

“It has certainly been the worst summer in living memory and arguably it’s been the worst summer ever for Australian tourism.”

Hotelier Jerry Schwartz said bookings at his luxury Fairmont Resort in the NSW Blue Mountains had plummeted from more than 95 per cent to less than 20 per cent over the holiday period. “This is the worst summer since the GFC in 2008,” he said.

Tourism Australia on Thursday will reveal the first tranche of the $76m federal government tourism funding will be spent on a $20m domestic marketing campaign. Tourism Australia will use print, social media, billboards, radio and outdoor advertising to try to inspire locals to travel to regional areas through its “Holiday Here This Year’’ campaign.

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison said: “There is no doubt Australian tourism has been hit hard by the recent bushfires. It’s critical we help the industry get back on its feet as soon as possible.”

Ms Harrison said the campaign was a practical way Australians could help bushfire-affected ­communities by filling hotels, ­restaurants, and caravan parks.

Mr Westaway said caravan parks in bushfire-affected towns suffered 100 per cent cancellations during their most crucial month of income. Tourist parks in nearby regions suffered at least 60 per cent cancellations across NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

“The severity of the fires created a domino effect, a contagion where people stopped travel, which carried through to large parts of the industry,” Mr Westaway said.

“One in 13 Australians are ­directly employed in the visitor economy and, right through the supply chain, people were ­severely impacted and that’s had a significant ripple effect.”

The number of international tourists booking holidays to Australia is down 10 to 20 per cent on forward bookings for the coming 12 months, which equates to $4.5bn potential revenue that won’t be spent in Australia.

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley said cancellations had been a “big challenge” as the December-to-February period was the peak booking window for northern hemisphere markets.

“We’ve already suffered millions of dollars in cancellations and our key concern is those forward bookings have really just evaporated,” Mr Shelley said.

He said forward travel bookings from the US, Canada and Britain were down by a minimum of 40 per cent, with tourism from China also softening.

After cutting short their Sydney visit because of the smoke, German tourists Celene Folta and Maik Athenstadt, both 21, headed north to the clear skies of ­Queensland.

“We were really sad about the bushfires, heartbroken. So many animals are dying,” Ms Folta said, at Lone Pine Sanctuary in Brisbane’s west on Wednesday.

It’s a story with which employees of the wildlife park are all too familiar, having hosted several groups forced to cancel tours in southern states.

“We had one group in particular, a family of six, who were heading to Kangaroo Island,” said Lone Pine senior wildlife education officer Kayla Ousley.

“They’d booked in for a wildlife experience on the island but had to cancel everything. They rang a day before and said ‘is there any way you guys can fit us in?’ We ran a full-day platinum tour experience for them.”

But Ms Ousley wonders if those bookings are not being countered by many more tourists giving Australia a miss.

“We’ve had people emailing who are concerned about coming here, asking ‘is it safe to go to Australia, can we even get there and what’s the situation like’,” she said.

“We’ve just had to tell people we’re quite lucky. There are a lot of areas that are a lot less fortunate.”

Mr Schwartz, Australia’s largest private owner of hotels with 15 major resorts on the eastern seaboard, said conference organisers from Europe, Asia and the US had cancelled bookings affecting the Fairmont Resort as well as his Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley Hotel.

Dr Schwartz’s billion-dollar Sofitel, Darling Harbour, tower just off the Sydney CBD has also been hit with several conference cancellations by international delegates.

“Our Mercure Canberra hotel has a general occupancy of 35 per cent, which is half the normal occupancy this time of year because of the intense smoke and the effect of most people staying at home. But the thing with the hospitality industry is the rebound after natural disasters is usually quick.”

Accor chief operating officer Simon McGrath, who is responsible for more than 400 hotels in Australia and the South Pacific, said this quarter had been looking strong for hotel bookings but there had been a softening in bookings in bushfire-affected and non-affected areas.

Additional reporting: Robyn Ironside, Adeshola Ore