Coronavirus: ‘Help us, or we’ll close’: hospitality sends SOS

Australia’s hospitality industry calls for government help, warning businesses missed out on lucrative Christmas holiday period.

Hospitality businesses missed out on lucrative trade over the Christmas holiday period after borders were closed and restrictions were reintroduced. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Australia’s hospitality industry has called for urgent help from the federal and state governments, warning that businesses have largely missed out on the lucrative Christmas holiday period after being hamstrung by sudden border closures.

Restaurant and Catering chief executive Wes Lambert has appealed to premiers to introduce vouchers similar to a scheme run in NSW, after Greater Brisbane emerged from a three-day lockdown that was introduced when a hotel quarantine cleaner was infected with the malignant British coronavirus variant.

NSW’s $500m “out and about” program, due to start early this year, will give adults $100 to spend at eligible businesses such as cafes, restaurants, pubs and cinemas to help build demand. The hospitality industry expects the vouchers to trigger spending across the state’s food and entertainment venues of up to $1.5bn.

Noting there would be further coronavirus cases in the community before vaccines were fully rolled out, Mr Lambert said targeted assistance for the worst-affected industries — including hospitality and tourism — was required before JobKeeper ends on March 28.

“If a state government introduces a lockdown or restrictions that disproportionately affects the hospitality and tourism industry, it’s important those restrictions come with a standard stimulus response every time that happens,” he said. “The holidays are effectively over and many have returned to work in a country whose borders are closed and multiple states remain under some type of COVID restriction.

“Restaurant and Catering will be calling on the federal and state governments for targeted stimulus that will ensure the first and most-affected industries when lockdowns and restrictions are put in place (receive) cashflow assistance, grant assistance, payroll tax assistance and rent relief.”

Business leaders and industry groups have for months urged the premiers to adopt a nationally consistent approach to border closures and restrictions. But Scott Morrison has abandoned ­attempts to have a national framework on borders, conceding the states were not interested.

States put back up borders to Greater Sydney, and in some cases all of NSW, when an outbreak occurred on the northern beaches before Christmas, while Greater Brisbane was effectively closed off to the rest of the country in the latest lockdown.

Hospitality industry sources estimated up to $8m worth of produce was lost during the Brisbane lockdown as restaurants and cafes were forced to cancel bookings and moved to take away and delivery only. They were given just nine hours’ notice before the lockdown was introduced.

Australian Tourism and Industry Council executive director Simon Westaway said travel vouchers, such as Tasmania’s “make yourself at home” scheme that allows the state’s residents to claim money back on local accommodation or tourism experiences, had worked “pretty well” in boosting sales across the country.

But he said the best stimulus for the tourism industry would be seamless border arrangements and consensus on what constituted a COVID-19 hotspot.

“With border closures come consequences, and the consequences hit the visitor economy as hard as any — we are the first that get hit,” Mr Westaway said.

“This recent bout of border restrictions that have emerged are really knocking the guts out of a lot of businesses.

“There have been a lot of cancellations, and there’s an impact around forward bookings. This on-off, open-shut approach comes with consequences. If people look at a vaccine on the horizon, will people stop travelling (until they are vaccinated), particularly if the borders keep opening and closing all the time?”

Mr Lambert said he expected there would be “much higher than average” exits from the hospitality industry in 2019-20 when data is released next month, and that could worsen, especially with the arrival of autumn and winter and as JobKeeper expires in March.

“We now expect that the fiscal 2021 entry-exit report could potentially be worse because it will take into account July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 and it will be made worse if our industry, which is the most-affected by snap lockdowns and restrictions, doesn’t get some bespoke stimulus,” he said.