PORT MACQUARIE: For Carol Curry, manager of the Marina Holiday Park, 330 km (205 miles) north of Sydney, the Easter long weekend and school holidays were to be a big finish to the tourist season after a year battered by Covid-19 restrictions.
Instead, sheâs sloshing through mud to reach cabins destroyed by floods after torrential rains battered Australiaâs east coast earlier this month and trying to contact guests to cancel bookings.
âThe park went under and so did all our reservation books and computers and things like that, so itâs been a bit of a challenge,â Curry told Reuters at the waterfront park she has taken care of for five years.
âWe actually had guests turn up last night to check in, so unfortunately they had to go elsewhere.â
Tourism is a major contributor to Australiaâs economy, generating about A$61 billion (RM193.329 billion) in 2018/19 and employing about 5% of the countryâs workforce, according to Tourism Australia.
The sector was hard hit when Australia effectively sealed its international borders early last year to protect against Covid-19, while a series of internal border closures to stem outbreaks added to the pain.
With an easing of internal restrictions earlier this year, operators were primed for a bumper holiday period ahead of the slower winter months when the devastating east coast floods washed away their hopes.
At the nearby Stoney Aqua Park, which offers camping and water skiing around a now mostly destroyed obstacle course, co-owner Anissa Manton, said she was facing significant financial losses.
âWe were solidly booked out,â she said. âWe were looking forward to a huge season.â
Manton said sheâs been advised her insurance policy wonât cover flood damage, and the park now faces a six-month clean-up.
Meanwhile, the pain for tourism looks set to continue, with a new Covid-19 outbreak in northern Queensland state, a popular holiday destination, putting Easter holiday plans on hold for thousands of visitors. â Reuters
