Border closure is a ‘punch in the gut’ to NSW holiday towns

The NSW south coast has been shattered by the Victorian government’s decision to close the border as businesses in holiday towns such as Pambula and Eden worry about survival.

Pambula Beach Caravan Park on December 31 last year before. About 30,000 Victorians travel each summer to towns along the south coast Picture: Angi High

The NSW south coast has been “punched in the gut” by the Victorian government’s decision to close the border as businesses in holiday towns such as Pambula and Eden worry about survival.

About 30,000 Victorians travel each summer to towns along the south coast but the decision to close the border caused six-hour traffic jams over New Year’s as Victorians fled for home.

Bega Valley Shire Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick said the towns were trying to recover from the impact of last summer’s bushfires.

“It will be our second peak season in a row that we’ve lost. A lot of businesses might not survive this,” he said.

He said without the Victorian visitors, the area would try to attract holiday-makers from regional NSW. “Businesses battled through, hoping this would be the summer to pick them up … but have been devastated again.”

The owner of Pambula’s Colonial Motor Inn said the decision meant businesses would be “pretty well wiped out” like last summer.

Steve Jeffries said the holiday period was when businesses made their income and the region should have been exempt from the parts of NSW that did have COVID cases.

“It’s the second year in a row that we’ve been punched in the gut,” he said. “People can stay here and not be worried about [COVID] but it wasn’t NSW’s decision. It was Victoria’s.

“I think there’s a lot of over-reaction concerned with the pandemic.”

He said COVID would probably always be around in some form, like colds and flus, and the government needed to develop another strategy instead of intermittent lockdowns.

“Something else needs to be thought of,” he said.

“Come up with liveable plans as opposed to these knee-jerk reaction shutdown of the borders.”

Mr Jeffries said he hoped people from Canberra would be able to visit and return home without any trouble, but the rules seemed to change without any warning.

“The big thing is … it’s devastating everybody, everybody is suffering. There’s not only the business owners but the holiday-makers and general population.”

Eden Chamber of Commerce president Eric Wolske said the decision had desolated the town just like the bushfires. “It’s pretty much the same time period as last year, the only difference here is we’re not shrouded in smoke and ash,” he said.

Mr Wolske said the border closure was quite damaging to many businesses that thought the summer trade would be the light at the end of the tunnel.

He said one caravan park told him it had lost 90 per cent of bookings after the announcement while his own antiques shop grossed just $90 on Friday.

“It’s certainly going to have a financial impact on the majority of the businesses in town,” he said. “A majority of businesses here rely on the Victorian trade. I thought 2021 could only be better [than 2020]. It hasn’t really got off to the best of starts.”