‘Shemozzle’ on borders costing $1.4bn a month to economy

The Victorian travel industry says it is concerned an inconsistent approach to border closures could cost the economy billions despite the low number of Covid-19 cases.

CEO of Victorian Tourism Industry Council Felicia Mariani. Picture: Supplied

The Victorian travel industry says it is concerned an inconsistent and “disproportionate” approach to border closures could cost the economy $1.4bn a month – despite the low number of Covid-19 cases – as the busy school holiday tourism season approaches.

Victoria recorded one new corona­virus case in the community on Sunday, in an already quarantined nonresident close contact of the outbreak linked to the Arcare aged-care facility in Maidstone in Melbourne’s west.

Health authorities, however, remain concerned after there were three cases last week whose acquisition source has not been established, testing numbers dipped and because of continued detections of coronavirus fragments at wastewater treatment plants in areas where there were no known cases.

With school holidays to begin in less than a fortnight, Melburnians are banned from travelling more than 25km other than for essential work and medical purposes, with NSW and the ACT the only jurisdictions allowing travellers from the city to enter without completing 14 days of quarantine.

Victorians’ traditional winter school holiday pilgrimages to warmer climes is imperilled, with Western Australia requiring 14 days with no cases of community transmission before it will waive the quarantine requirement, and other states including Queensland giving little indication they will be more lenient.

“It is really unfortunate and incredibly disproportionate to the level of community transmission that we have occurring in Victoria at the moment,” said Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani.

“We know here in Victoria that we are losing $1.4bn a month by not having interstate visitors coming into Victoria.

“The ongoing sporadic nature by which frankly all states except NSW are managing their borders is wreaking havoc on the recovery of our sector.”

Tourism & Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said the lack of consistency in state approaches to border closures was a “shemozzle”.

“Given a choice, so many Victorians go to Queensland for a holiday this time of year,” Ms Osmond said on Sunday.

“Even without border closures, consumers are feeling so uncertain about the situation that they’re increasingly reluctant to take the risk of booking an interstate holiday.”

Australian Industry Group’s Victorian director, Tim Piper, said the psychological impact for Victorian families forced to cancel planned interstate holidays would be profound.

He also warned of the impact the current ban on Melburnians leaving the city was having on regional Victorian tourism, including ski resorts, where the season officially opened this weekend.

“They have 16 weeks to make their money, so this is eating into not 52 weeks but 16 weeks. It’s a huge impost,” he said.

Asked whether he was concerned families in Victoria and interstate would have to cancel holidays as a result of border closures sparked by the state’s coronavirus outbreak, Health Minister Martin Foley said he could not speak for other jurisdictions.

“What I know is the sooner we drive this outbreak down to the point where interstate jurisdictions do not have those concerns, the sooner we can get back to the kind of life we were familiar with, with the 86 continuous days of no community transmission running into this outbreak,” he said.

Mr Foley hailed Sunday’s sole new case as good news but said it “cannot be taken as mission accomplished”, with more work to do to ensure the state’s coronavirus outbreaks are extinguished.

While 17,102 tests processed in the 24 hours to Sunday are a welcome increase on the previous 24 hours, testing numbers are well down from the June 2’s 57,519.

“We still would like to see those numbers higher,” Mr Foley said.