By Roxanne Fitzgerald

Wayne Thompson’s fleet of coaches are usually packed with tourists visiting Central Australia’s expansive deserts and sacred Indigenous sites.

Now they’ve been redeployed in Western Australia’s mines.

Central Australia’s tourism industry has been brought to its knees by the coronavirus pandemic and resulting border closures and restrictions.

“Tourism as we know it is dead, gone, finished,” Mr Thompson said.

“Borders shut, so business shut.”

He says Alice Springs, the gateway for exploring the Red Centre, is emptying. Businesses have shuttered, hotels lie vacant, restaurants are struggling, and rows of cars gather dust at the front of hire companies.

Tourism has all but stopped in many places across the world, and businesses in the Northern Territory have not been immune.

Tourism Central Australia chief executive officer Danial Rochford said that in July last year, over 17,000 people streamed through the Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre.

For July 2020, that number sat at just 500.

On March 24, Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced mandatory 14 day quarantine for all visitors to the NT because of coronavirus, which on April 2 became mandatory quarantine in a government selected hotel under the watch of a security guard. On April 4, the government started charging people $2,500 for the privilege.

On June 15, it changed to allow people to again be able to nominate their own quarantine subject to inspections, before mandatory quarantine for domestic visitors who were not from hospots ended on July 17.

In the two weeks after that, 19,000 people came into the Territory, Health Minister Natasha Fyles said at the time

The NT Government has stopped publicly releasing figures on the number of people who have entered the Territory, or left.

Tourism NT figures for the year to March 2020 showed 1.96 million people visited the NT for any reason, and 1.94 million visited in the corresponding period in the year before. Of those to March 2020, 282,000 holiday makers visited the Alice Springs MacDonnell region, 367,000 holidayed in the Lasseter region which includes Uluru, and 72,000 visited the Barkly region.

In total, Central Australia which includes the Barkly, had 762,000 visitors in that same period and 496,000 holiday makers, with $1.07 billion spent all up and $646 million by holiday makers.

Tourism NT has not publicly released tourism figures since March.

The NT Government’s attempt at a lifeline, which amounted to $5.2 million in the form of 26,000 vouchers worth $200 for tourism experiences for Territorians, matched dollar for dollar, did not quite jump the Berrimah line.

Only 12 per cent of the vouchers have been used in Central Australia, Mr Rochford said.

And some of that money, at least 10 per cent, did not go to tourism operators but Tourism Central Australia and Tourism Top End as mandatory booking agents for the voucher scheme.

On August 9, Tourism Minister Lauren Moss said there have been 17,400 vouchers redeemed or about $3.5 million worth, which would have doubled because of the requirement for matched spending minus booking fees. She did not break down where in the NT the vouchers had been used. Voucher holders must book their trip by October 31.

In the week before that the government announced a further $10 million for two more rounds of the voucher scheme with round one to open on November 1 and round three on February 1 next year. This time the voucher will be doubled to $400 if people travel more than 500km from their home.

In contrast, the government has promised more than $100 million on its COVID-19 stimulus home and business improvement scheme to help the construction industry.

Now tourism operators have taken matters into their own hands; reinventing the wheel at an industry event last week in an attempt to lure an interstate market and breath life back into the sector.

‘We are in our darkest days’

Mr Rochford said Central Australia’s heavily dependent economy is struggling.

Companies have gone into hibernation or closed completely, he said, with more than 600 businesses “on life support”, kept afloat for the time being by the Federal Government’s financial JobKeeper support program.

“Our industry is on its knees, we are in our darkest days,” Mr Rochford said.

“Nearly 70 per cent of the Territory’s international visitors come to Central Australia, but at the close of the border that stopped. That has been a big impact to the local economy.”

With about 80 per cent of the NT Government’s tourism vouchers in the hands of Darwin locals, who have predominantly opted to travel locally, Mr Rochford said operators are concerned.

“They are using words like ‘anxiety’, ‘pressure’ and ‘this is getting too much’,” he said.

Tapping into adventure experiences and a thirst for knowledge

Last week, over 90 businesses operating within Central Australia’s tourism sector convened in a bid to save the industry from collapse.

Developing night-time experiences and making the most out of a growing thirst for knowledge and education, were some of the options the industry is looking to tap into.

“We have a really rich Indigenous history and culture, science opportunities through astrology, geology and agriculture,” Mr Rochford said.

“One thing we’re doing at this time to look to the future post-COVID is build on the huge opportunities we have in Central Australia.”

Working with the private industry to define a vision for the next decade is top of the agenda, he said.

“We are also looking at developing greater adventure experiences and tapping into historical tours.”

The businesses falling through the cracks

Wayne Thompson spent years as the Northern Territory chair of the Australian Tourism Export Council.

But since 2004 has overseen a fleet of almost 40 coaches that take mostly overseas tourists on an experience of the desert.

He said that at the start of the year, before coronavirus, his business ATG Down Under was expecting a big year, with bookings almost maxed out.

However, he now counts himself as another COVID-19 casualty.

“I don’t believe the tourism industry will ever return to what it was,” he said.

And when there are no more COVID-19 restrictions between states and territories, he sees visitors flocking to the east coast.

“There is a whole lot of people out there with a whole lot of hurt. They have missed out on their dry season, which means nil income,” he said.

“I had a beer with a mate the other day and I had to say goodbye because he can’t afford to live here anymore.”

Mr Rochford said that while the NT Government’s voucher scheme was warmly welcomed in Central Australia, and uptake has seen experience and accommodation businesses doing well, others in the industry, like Mr Thompson, continue to tread water.

“There are a number of operators that have fallen through the cracks,” he said, “In particular tour companies.

“The campaign has been pitched to Territorians who have a vehicle – so as a result we’re not seeing many people wanting to go on a tour bus.”

He said the industry is calling on the government to bolster support through funding infrastructure and sustainable tourism opportunities.