‘Enough is enough’: Tourism chiefs call for more courage on borders
Tourism leaders have urged premiers to show courageous leadership and revisit the framework for border closures.
Tourism leaders have urged premiers to show courageous leadership and revisit the framework for border closures with NSW showing that it has been able to manage the latest COVID outbreak through its contact tracing and high testing levels.
With the travel plans of millions of residents of greater Sydney having been disrupted during the peak summer holiday season following the northern beaches outbreak earlier this month, tourism bosses say the “ad hoc border closures” are a blow to confidence.
Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner said there was no logic to shutting state borders.
“Basically, NSW is doing everything necessary and appears to have the outbreak under control,” Mr Turner said from London on Sunday night. “Shutting borders has a huge effect on tourism. Queensland’s tourism industry, particularly in the north, has been damaged badly.”
Seven new Sydney COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday, with six linked to the northern beaches cluster and one case under investigation. This follows nine locally acquired cases reported on Saturday. The latest figures take the COVID cases linked with the Avalon cluster to 122.
Corporate Travel Management chief executive Jamie Pherous said “enough was enough” and the ad hoc opening and closing of state borders was destroying consumer confidence.
“It appears we are going for eradication rather than suppression [of COVID-19], which is not what we agreed to,” said Mr Pherous, adding that state governments appeared to be changing policies on the fly.
“Time and time again NSW has overwhelmingly demonstrated they can very successfully manage the virus. They have done a great job,” said Mr Pherous from his Queensland base on Sunday.
“State governments fail to recognise the ramifications of ad hoc opening and closing borders. It takes away people’s confidence.
“It’s unnecessary [to close the borders] and state governments have demonstrated the capability to manage [the virus]”.
Mr Pherous said the decision to close a border was “easy”.
“This is what drives me nuts. Enough is enough. State governments have very capable tracing and tracking abilities. They have demonstrated it, and I say let them do the job, manage the virus and let the economy go on.
“NSW keeps proving overwhelming they have the capability to manage it. I would like to see some courageous leadership.”
On Christmas Eve, Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner opened his borders to all NSW residents except those who have been to the northern beaches, prompting NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to urge other premiers to follow suit.
Investment bank Citi estimates some $2bn a month will be lost from tourism spending due to the state border lockdowns.
“Hospitality and tourism operators in greater Sydney affected by the … restrictions may not have fully recovered from earlier pandemic-induced weakness,” Citi chief economist Josh Williamson said.
Greg Shaw, CEO of Mulpha, the conglomerate that owns major tourism operations such as Hayman Island in Queensland and the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney, said there was opportunities for a more nuanced approach in managing the impact of the virus on the industry.
“The key is to make sure we don’t go back to this black-and-white approach where millions of people are locked out,” Mr Shaw said.
“The correct way to manage the virus is to get the right balance and also ensure the tourism industry is not destroyed in the process.”
Citi’s Mr Williamson said the COVID case numbers could have the potential to moderate the recent uptick in consumer and business confidence.
“Australians were becoming used to zero local COVID-19 cases leading to improved mobility scores that were associated with a recovery in economic data. Any confidence-based moderation in mobility could create more volatility in measures of consumer spending,” Mr Williamson said.
The outbreak has so far caused the cancellation of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race and residents are being urged to stay at home rather than venture into the city for the New Year’s Eve fireworks.
Mr Williamson said NSW would be hardest hit by the border closures. “While restrictions on NSW residents would lower tourism elsewhere, it will likely be partially offset by people redirecting tourism away from NSW to other states,” he said.
NSW was likely to bear the largest impact as it would probably lose the most tourism.
Mr Williamson noted that every $1 spent on tourism in NSW generated an additional 84c of spending.
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