Newly released figures reveal Australia’s tourism industry has suffered a considerable hit over the festive period.
According to new figures, commissioned by the Transport and Tourism Forum, businesses lost around $3 billion over the Christmas and New Year’s weeks.
Transport and Tourism Forum CEO Margy Osmond spoke to Sky News about the findings.
Ms Osmond said normally during the period between the 24th of December and the 11th of January, Australians would spend roughly $5.5 billion on their holidays, injecting that money into the industry.
“So essentially on the basis of our projections which were made a couple of weeks ago when borders first started closing, they would be losing across the country about $3 billion,” she said.
Ms Osmond said concerningly, since those figures were produced, Victoria imposed a hard border to all of New South Wales and not just to residents from Greater Sydney.
“So, my fear is now those figures are going to be substantially higher,” she said.
“It’s been a tragic year for the tourism industry”.