Coast ‘dodged a bullet’

Bushfires ensured overseas visitors stayed away

AUSTRALIA’S devastating bushfire season is believed by experts to have allowed the Gold Coast to “dodge a bullet” in the COVID-19 crisis, with large numbers of international tourists with the virus frightened off.

Before unprecedented restrictions were introduced to counter the pandemic, the Glitter Strip would have been bustling but tourists, mainly from China, began cancelling as fires raged.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Annaliese Battista said international holiday bookings to Australia dropped more than 15 per cent during the bushfires.

Ms Battista said Chinese

New Year bookings to the Gold Coast were also “already down 20 per cent” and international media coverage of Australia’s black summer was a contributing factor.

From September 2019 to March 2020, fires had a huge impact across regions in Queensland, Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

The first case of COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, in late December, with the virus spreading to more than 185 countries in the past four months. On January 28, Queensland had its first confirmed case of coronavirus on the Gold Coast – a 44-year-old man from a group of Chinese nationals from Wuhan.

The group was on a Tiger Air flight to the Gold Coast via Melbourne and Singapore.

Of the 194 cases confirmed on the Coast, 182 were contracted overseas or had contact with a confirmed case.

Gold Coast-based immunologist Professor Pete Smith said the tragedy of the bushfires had conversely meant Australia avoided high case numbers and severe mutations of the virus.

“As the Chinese mutations were getting towards their end in China, which was around the time of the bushfires and Chinese New Year, this is where we started to see more virulent mutations appear and we have seen that in Australia,”

he said. “I think we have dodged a bullet in Australia, partially from the lack of tourism, because Australia was on fire and hence they didn’t come to Australia and New Zealand.

“Not as many inbound tourists means we were likely to see less cases than other parts of the world. We are seeing the result of this right now.”

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley was reported as saying at the height of the fires, on January 18, that the inbound industry experienced millions of dollars in cancellations from intending international travellers.

“We have also seen a significant decrease in forward bookings, which we have estimated will reduce inbound tourism revenue by up to $4.5 billion,” he said.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there was a dramatic decline of shortterm overseas visitor arrivals to Australia from October to February.

During February there were 685,4000 visitors – down 26.1 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

Griffith University health and infectious disease expert Professor Nigel McMillian agreed Australia avoided some cases due to lack of tourists.

“Really all our cases have been contracted overseas,” he said. “If we had less inbound tourists, evidently we had fewer case numbers than other parts of the world.

“I would say now, other than Taiwan and perhaps Hong Kong, Australia has probably done the best in the world. If you compare us to other countries, we seemed to react at the right time and do the right things.”

However Prof McMillian warned there would be a second wave but he hoped that despite an easing of restrictions, the country would be able to keep “the foot firmly on the throat”.

Ms Battista estimated the Gold Coast’s tourism economy would suffer a $1.8 billion loss as a result of the COVID-19 crisis this financial year and a 25 per cent decline in visitors.