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Disaster and Disease: The Suffering of Australian Tourism
Imagine arriving at a resort for a late check-in to find out that the place was destroyed by a natural disaster. Carol Curry says she needs to tell two guests who recently arrived at Marina Holiday Park overnight, about 200 miles north of Sydney. She manages the park. The place is a symbol of widespread grief in the Australian tourism industry. This season was expected to recover after a year of coronavirus shutdown. And the Australians, fed up, counted on them for relief. Then the floods came. The massive floods that have not been seen in half a century. “We were fully booked. So yeah, that was a small job in itself, contacting the people who came to the park and we advised them when the office went down, and all of our reservation books, computers and the like.” would have been full of kids and families and have the big Easter hunt on Easter Sunday morning and she would have been out here at the BBQ area and in the pool and it would have been a good time. “Tourism is a big part of the Australian economy. According to the industry group Tourism Australia, around 47 billion US dollars were generated in 2019. About 5% of Australians are employed there. Anissa Manton is co-owner of the Stony Aqua Park, not far from Curry’s. She says she’s been reviewing repairs for six months and her insurer doesn’t offer any help. “That was extremely disappointing. Apparently there is a sub-clause in your insurance that is due to tourism. So I’m not the only one who can find out.” so we spend over $ 150,000 a year on insurance, but yeah, no insurance. “Manton says she’s lucky because they managed to get far enough in. The tourism season went unscathed to put some money aside. With a new coronavirus outbreak in at least one state, the pain will continue.
