Wild weather costs tourism an estimated $44 million
Ballina business operators who rely on the tourist trade have been saying that this Christmas-New Year season has been the worst for 30 years, and now it’s official.
Northern Rivers Tourism Chief Executive Officer Russell Mills says the economic loss to the region’s tourism operators from the recent heavy rains and floods in the Northern Rivers is estimated at up to $44 million.
“Following the declaration of parts of the Northern Rivers as Natural Disaster Areas by Emergency Services Minister Nathan Rees, Northern Rivers Tourism and Mid North Coast Tourism initiated surveys of tourism operators in c-ooperation with local government and local tourism associations across the region,” he said.
“The trend across the region has been that visitor numbers and visitor expenditure was down a mean average of 14 per cent. The compounding effect of direct loss through flood damage, restricted access for employees, cancellations, a downturn in forward bookings and negative media coverage for the region is significant.
“The estimate is based on the results of a survey asking tourism operators to quantify the impact on their businesses in the key holiday month of January.
“The indicative responses represent a cross-section of operators including tours, accommodation, events and attractions. The figure also takes into account estimated average tourism earnings in January for the Northern Rivers which we sourced from the State Government tourism agency Tourism NSW.
“We are now consulting a number of agencies, local, State and Federal MPs to build a more comprehensive picture which will be used to substantiate a submission to State and Federal governments for disaster relief funding.”
The impact extends to other businesses which are indirect beneficiaries of tourism expenditure, such as National Parks, retailers, service stations, and suppliers to specific areas of recreation such as fishing, surfing and outdoor activities like camping, ballooning and diving.
Mr. Mills also said: “It’s important to understand that tourism flows into many other areas of business and industry. The current ban on all forms of fishing in the Richmond River has implications for bait and tackle shops, service stations, general stores and tourism in the region as recreational fishers are obliged look elsewhere.”
Tourism employs approximately 7200 or 6.8per cent of the Northern Rivers region’s workforce. The Northern Rivers received nearly 1.9 million domestic and 225,000 international overnight visitors in the year ended September 2007.
PICTURE: This was the sight that greeted campers at the Shaws Bay caravan park during the recent fish kill.
