Two new cases, tourism sector’s grim outlook - Herald Sun

Victoria has recorded just a pair of new infections overnight. But the state’s tourism sector has been given a sombre assessment.

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Two new Covid cases have been recorded in Victoria, both linked to current outbreaks and in quarantine throughout their infectious period.

The state’s active caseload has shed 27 infections, dropping to 134 cases on Monday.

More than 21,000 Victorians were tested on Sunday, while 15,030 received a vaccination.

It comes as industry figures say Victoria’s tourism sector will take at least five years to recoup Covid losses and faces potentially crippling staff shortages into the future.

The sombre assessment flows from interviews with tourism figures ranging from Melbourne CBD tour operators who face wipe-out, to regional restaurants that report “phenomenal” demand when they are allowed to open their doors.

Victoria Tourism Industry Council chief Felicia Mariani said the sector would need dedicated assistance for years to come.

“It will be the better part of five years to get back to pre-Covid,” Ms Mariani said.

“We will have lost five years of growth, five years of acceleration.”

Tourism spending in Victoria has hit a 20-year low, plunging 69 per cent to $9.8bn in the year to March.

Domestic overnight spending by visitors to Melbourne was down 83 per cent, while regional areas fared better but were still hit with a 35 per cent drop, data from Tourism Research Australia shows.

Ms Mariani said while Victorians taking short trips to destinations not too far from Melbourne provided regional operators with a lifeline, there was no such relief for city businesses.

“Capital cities rely heavily on international visitors, on major events, on business events and conferences – all of those things are just not happening,” she said.

Fiona Sweetman pioneered walking tours of Melbourne when she launched her Hidden Secret Tours business in 2004. Before Covid she employed 15 staff and ran tours where half her customers were international visitors. She has been forced to let go of all her staff and has burnt through her savings in a bid to keep the business afloat.

“It’s terrible, let’s be honest,” she said. “Everyone in the industry is desperate to work. We have not closed shop, but it is difficult to encourage people to come into Melbourne and if they come they are going to a hotel and restaurant and that’s it.”

Ms Sweetman said there was some light at the end of the tunnel, having received bookings for 2022 and 2023 from overseas customers keen to visit Melbourne.

But whether the business would survive to then, as well as what experience it would be able to offer, is uncertain.

“Urban tourism has a different feel; we showcase a lot of unique Melbourne businesses and restaurants,” Ms Sweetman said. “If those businesses are not there, then what are we showcasing?”

Bright Brewery in the state’s Alpine Valley is facing a different challenge – red-hot trade when Covid restrictions are lifted which turns ice cold when lockdowns return.

“It has been phenomenal – basically since Melbourne got out of lockdown in November last year it has been flat-out,” marketing manager Laura Gray said.

“Normally, visitation to Bright is quite seasonal. That hasn’t happened this year. As long as people have been allowed to travel, they have.”

Despite pent-up demand among restless Victorians, Ms Gray cautioned that periods of intense trade were offset by lockdown losses.

Current venue capacity restrictions also weigh heavily on the business.

“We are glad to have the doors open, glad to be serving people but capacity restrictions make it difficult for the business to prosper,” she said.

“We are operating at a much higher level than normal, however every time we go into lockdown, even for a week, revenue plummets basically to zero. And each lockdown gets progressively harder.”

Ms Gray said Bright tourism operators were struggling to attract staff – chefs were in particularly acute demand – with a lack of affordable accommodation in an area heavy with holiday rentals a major roadblock.

The state’s tourism council has also identified an exodus of workers from a sector that cannot offer stable employment as a major hurdle to its eventual recovery.

“We have had an absolute brain drain out of our industry,” Ms Mariani said. “Many businesses just cannot get staff and people are having to leave the industry because they want more security.”

At Echuca in the state’s north, Murray River Houseboats owner Julie Montgomery said the business had lost about $500,000 in forgone revenue from bookings having to be moved many times as lockdowns hit.

‘EVIDENCE’ SHOWS PROTECTION PROVIDED BY THE JAB

None of the 10 Victorians ­recently admitted to hospital with serious Covid-19 had been fully vaccinated, underlining the “powerful” protection it was offering.

A new analysis of those infected in the state’s latest Delta variant outbreak has indicated Covid vaccines not only prevented many Victorians being infected, but stopped them suffering serious complications.

The findings came as eight Covid-19 patients continued to be being treated in Victorian hospitals on Sunday, with one of the three intensive-care patients requiring a ventilator.

Of the four new locally acquired Covid cases announced on Sunday, acting Covid-19 commander Naomi Bromley said all had been linked to current outbreaks and were in quarantine while infectious.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said public health measures had been able to “get ahead” of the latest Frankston cluster, though it was still too early to promise an easing of ­restrictions next week.

“We will get additional cases over coming days; they will get fewer and fewer, but at some point in the next week or so, we will run out of individuals, close contacts who could test positive, and we will have those proper days of zero again,” Prof Sutton said.

A snapshot of Victoria’s 204 locally acquired Delta variant cases between July 12 and July 28 also underlined the “power” of vaccinations, after Prof Sutton revealed only 10 of the recent Delta cases had received both of their vaccinations – and none of those suffered serious illness. Another 25 Victorian cases had received at least a single dose of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine.

“Of those 10 positive cases who were fully vaccinated, none of them were hospitalised, all were either completely without symptoms or had mild symptoms,” Prof Sutton said.

“We know it (Covid vaccines) reduces your risk of getting Covid, but especially of getting very sick from Covid.

“It is increasingly compelling evidence from around the world, where billions of vaccines have been given.”

The Victorian data showed that of the 204 people who caught Covid from July 12-28, a total of 29 had been eligible for the vaccine, but had not been vaccinated. Some of those were included among the 10 most severe cases admitted to hospital.

Those 10 cases were a person in their 90s, who had received a single vaccination; a person in their 80s who was completely unvaccinated; a person in their 60s, who was unvaccinated; one person in their 50s, who had not received either vaccination; two people in their 50s, who had received one dose; a person in their 40s, who was unvaccinated; a person in their 30s, who was unvaccinated; and two people in their 20s, who were not vaccinated.

An analysis of Sydney’s worsening outbreak has also shown only 15 of more than 2700 locally acquired cases so far have been fully vaccinated.

“By contrast, 93 per cent of those 2700 people have not yet been vaccinated and 6 per cent have been vaccinated with one dose,” acting chief medical officer Michael Kidd said.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Bridget McKenzie said everyone wanted vaccination rates to increase.

“We will only get to 80 per cent, when 80 per cent of us put either vaccine hesitancy away, encourage our loved ones to actually get out, have the conversation with our GP or pharmacist and get vaccinated,” Senator McKenzie said.

She said she agreed with Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten that AstraZeneca was a great vaccine that had been approved by the nation’s stringent drug regulator.

She said a million Covid-19 vaccine doses were now being administered every six days, which was testament to the health system and the Aussies rolling up their sleeves.

MORE JABS WILL GIVE NSW OPTIONS

A rush of Covid vaccinations could be NSW’s key to freedom, after Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday directly linked easing of restrictions to higher rates of vaccination.

NSW reported 239 new local Covid cases, with only 80 in isolation during their infectious period.

At least 26 cases were in the community while infectious, and the isolation status of 98 cases was still a mystery on Sunday. The cases came from almost 88,000 tests.

It came as it was revealed 12 residents of a nursing home in Sydney’s west had contracted Covid-19 after an employee tested positive to the disease.

Three of the Wyoming Nursing Home residents who caught Covid were not vaccinated.

Ms Berejiklian on Sunday called for all adults in Sydney to get whatever vaccine they could. She said people coming forward for vaccination over the next four weeks of lockdown would give the government “more options” at the end of the month.

In NSW, there were 222 patients in hospital with Covid-19 on Sunday, including 54 in intensive care. Twenty-five patients were on ventilators.

SPREAD FEARS MAY EXTEND QLD LOCKDOWN

Queenslanders could be facing their longest lockdown since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic amid concerns their current outbreak may run past Tuesday.

Greater Brisbane recorded nine new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Sunday — the highest daily increase of local spread since August last year — with fears of it spreading to the state’s regions. A lockdown affecting 11 municipalities was scheduled to end on Tuesday afternoon but well-placed health and police sources said discussions were under way to potentially extend the lockdown by as much as 14 days if needed.

If extended, it would be the longest Queenslanders have been told to stay at home since the height of the pandemic in March 2020.

Construction of the Rookwood weir, southwest of Rockhampton, was halted on Sunday after a woman who had been working on the site tested positive.

At least six schools are now affected, and five of Sunday’s new cases recorded were children aged 10 to 19.

The cluster now stands at 18 cases.

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2021-08-01 22:30:46Z
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