Tasmania’s rediscovery
THERE seems to be an unexpected upside to Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein’s tough stance on border control.
In their droves Tasmanians are embracing the opportunity to holiday at home, flocking to our state’s tourist hot spots often reserved for interstate or international visitors.
We’re falling in love all over again with our beautiful island state and rediscovering why tourists from all over the world have been falling over themselves to take in all that Tasmania has to offer.
Cradle Mountain accommodation providers say they were fully booked over the school holidays and caravan parks are reporting big numbers despite the interstate travel ban.
Operators of accommodation website Airbnb say they’ve seen a 106 per cent lift in same-state domestic booking for Tasmania in June compared with the same month last year.
People may not be able to make their annual winter escape north to warmer weather, but it’s not stopping them from holidaying and they are being greeted by grateful and relieved tourist operators.
There isn’t a pub or restaurant, accommodation provider or bakery across the state that won’t welcome you with open arms at the minute.
Mr Gutwein and Tasmania’s Director of Public Health Mark Veitch are carefully watching the situation on the mainland. Community transmission has spiralled out of control in Victoria and there are growing concerns about NSW.
South Australia and Western Australia have mandated testing for anyone arriving in those states and the ACT is urging residents not to travel to NSW.
We have seen just how quickly a few cases can become a cluster. We’ve seen how quickly governments can lose control and when that happens we know that it’s straight back into lockdown.
This Friday the Premier will once again talk about Tasmanian borders reopening. He’s already delayed the proposed July 24 date to see what first transpires on the mainland.
Tourism and hospitality businesses will be desperate to open again to interstate travel but even though they are in financial dire straits, they know the reward is not worth the potential risk.
Up until yesterday, it had been two months since we’d had a coronavirus case in Tasmania, thankfully the person is in quarantine.
But it is likely we will have another community case — and remember eradication was never the goal here, it was always about containing outbreaks — we need to make sure we can test, trace and stop that case from spreading. If we see other instances of community transmission, some parts of the state could once again find themselves in lockdown.
Businesses already grappling with how much harder it is to reopen than it was to close, are going to struggle to go through it all over again.
We’ve had the advantage of being able to watch the mainland, see what the following weeks may have in store and learn from that.
The months ahead require patience and courage. We’re not out of the woods yet.
WE’VE SEEN HOW QUICKLY GOVERNMENTS CAN LOSE CONTROL AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS WE KNOW THAT IT’S STRAIGHT BACK INTO LOCKDOWN