Tourism businesses find ways to bounce back after Victoria’s bushfires

Regional businesses in Victoria’s North East and East Gippsland have been stripped of their income by the bushfires. But there are ways the public can help.

Bounce back: Tim Briggs from Bright Velo is starting a campaign to "Make Bright Great Again". Picture: Kirrily Carberry

HUNDREDS of small businesses are in the same desperate situation.

Bushfire evacuations in summer tourism hot spots — the North East and East Gippsland — have caused a disaster nearly as severe as the flames.

The North East regional tourism board reported more than 130 businesses suffered 100 per cent losses in the first week of January, with conservative estimates putting the North East tourism industry’s first quarter down by $183-208 million.

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Bright accommodation owner Tim Briggs of Velo Bright says he evacuated on January 2 and did not reopen until January 15. He and his wife, Aysha, bought the business in August and spent about $80,000 renovating it in preparation for the summer rush.

Then booking cancellations started in the week of Christmas, before he had to close. He cancelled bookings free of charge. “They said, ‘we’ll cancel now and in the future we will come back’,” he says, explaining most people declined his offers to change dates.

“Which means no income for me at all, because they were so scared about how long these fires were going on for.”

As well the impact on his own business — he has lodged an insurance claim of $32,600 in loss of income for cancelled bookings — there has been a flow-on effect to others, such as cleaners and laundry businesses.

“When people book, we get paid,” he says. “People were cancelling in December for January. The income that was meant to be coming in December for January just wasn’t coming in.”

He posted on Facebook last week describing the impact of the evacuations on the business, and offering a 20 per cent discount for future bookings. That post has since been shared nearly 3000 times.

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“The shares just went crazy,” he says. “We have got some bookings, we’ve got a lot of interest, and if anything it’s got the message out, people are trying to put some thought into coming back to Bright.”

He has also started a “Make Bright Great Again” Facebook page to encourage visitors to return.

It seems like people are already heeding the messages — Tim was booked out all three nights of the Australia Day weekend.

Tim is just one of many small-scale traders in the east of the state who say they need an immediate income boost if they are to survive.

Tarrawingee goat farmers Melissa and Donovan Jacka didn’t lose livestock or pasture in the fires, but they still found their Tolpuddle Goats Cheese farm business in dire straits.

Summer is peak goats’ milk production time and they are normally flat out selling cheese.

This season, customers to the farm gate vanished. All their local farmers’ markets were cancelled. Restaurants stopped ordering.

New approach: Melissa Jacka from Tolpuddle Farm. Picture: Andy Rogers

“We stopped making things that were perishable,” says Melissa, explaining they were facing a huge financial problem.

“We started making hard cheeses that we could mature for as long as we need to. But we also realised it wasn’t going to be a quick resolution and we would have to prepare for weeks or months of a different experience.”

Online sales weren’t an option, because they didn’t have packaging, ice packs nor extra funds to buy any.

Melissa’s solution was goat sponsorship. Posting on Facebook, she invited people to sponsor a goat for the price of 205 days of feed. In return, people get to visit, name a baby goat, enjoy a cheese platter with local prosecco and produce.

“I put the post up and then, feeling quite uncomfortable about it, I popped the phone on the ledge and had a couple hours of work to do,” she says. The phone nearly vibrated itself off the windowsill, with nearly 1000 people offering sponsorship.

“It made me cry because it was unexpected,” she says.

Her tears of joy were followed by pangs of guilt.

“It is not easy to accept. Our farm hasn’t burnt down,” she says. “There are people who have lost everything and yet we are receiving all this generosity.”

Eventually she realised the much-needed income stream could extend to help fellow producers.

“I think we can continue to build on that lovely community spirit and rope in some of our favourite producers to give them some exposure to all these generous people,” she says.

Feathertop Winery owner Janelle Marsden-Boynton also knows most traders in the Ovens Valley need a creative way to attract income, and they need it now. She says her Porepunkah cellar door, usually buzzing with customers, was down to zero visitation in January. It usually buys cheese from the Jackas.

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“We’ve had to try to build and rely on off-site revenue through our website, but it’s not generating enough money to cover the basic running costs,” she says.

“A lot of producers or shops rely on bricks-and-mortar retail.”

She has organised the High Country Comeback 2020, a one-day special event at The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne on Sunday, where North East producers can sell directly to city consumers who want to support affected businesses.

From wineries and cheesemakers to pottery shops and clothes retailers, boutique businesses from across the High Country have jumped on board.

“I’ve had some pretty incredible conversations with people saying, ‘oh my god I can’t believe you put this together’, … and then they burst into tears,” Janelle says.

“People say they’ve taken $30 in 30 days — not enough to buy food. It’s real.”

She hopes all producers will go home with empty trailers.