A taskforce gathering evidence to help shape post-COVID business recovery has heard from local tourism operators on the best ways to help the sector survive and thrive in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury, according to Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman. 

Labor’s Pandemic Recovery Jobs and Industry Taskforce held the second of two days of hearings in Katoomba on April 21. 

Taskforce acting chair Milton Dick MP joined Ms Templeman to hear from nearly 30 local accommodation, experience, and hospitality business owners give their views on how to help their industry move forward.   

“Issues raised on the day included the need for strategic regional marketing, skills shortages and career paths, and roadblocks for business that have been put in place at various levels of government,” Ms Templeman said. 

“Tourism operators have had to endure so much since November 2019 when we were all shrouded in bushfire smoke, but the Taskforce was very clear that our community continues to suffer the effects of not just bushfires, but COVID, land slips and flooding.   

“A full recovery is going to be long and the local economic impact very uneven, so the time for action is now.  

“This hearing was an opportunity for tourism businesses to tell us what has worked and what hasn’t, and what they need for the sector to move to the next level. 

“Thank you to everyone who came along, as well as those business owners who weren’t able to be there but emailed submissions.”   

Mr Dick said the Katoomba hearing was the 23rd for the taskforce, and commended local operators for working cooperatively to assist each other through difficult times.  

“Literally everyone present at the hearing wanted other businesses to succeed as well as their own. It’s a real credit to the local industry,” Mr Dick said. 

“They have gone through fires, flood and landslides, and yet they have stayed very positive and worked together as a collective. 

“Businesses brought practical and workable ideas to the taskforce, described what they had been through, and what they hoped to see in the future so the sector can rebuild and recover. 

“The taskforce will be using that information to help play a constructive role so tourism - a cornerstone of the Blue Mountains economy in particular - rebound.”