Blue Mountains tourism operators continuing to struggle with the dual blows of bushfires and the pandemic will see little benefit from the Morrison Government’s tourism support package, Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman said.

The government announced the new $1.2 billion package would operate to 13 “key regions”, including the Gold Coast, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Mackay region (Proserpine and Hamilton Island), the Sunshine Coast, Lasseter and Alice Springs, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, Broome, Avalon, Merimbula, and Kangaroo Island. 

“While some bigger operators were looking for loans so they could maintain equipment and overheads so they didn’t have to sell off major assets, the loans offered in this package don’t have an interest free period, so there is little cash flow relief,” Ms Templeman said.

“And this package does absolutely nothing for the smaller operators who just want to get more people coming through the door.

“The last thing Mountains businesses need is to see prospective Australian customers given incentives to head off to Broome and the Whitsundays. How on earth does that help replace the international tourists who are banned from visiting, and in fact stopped coming in November 2019 with the bushfires?

“When I met with Mountains businesses last month, they told me they didn’t want a handout, they wanted visitors. They needed help to effectively promote the area to domestic tourists.

“But this new package fails to promote a region that suffered a $66 million hit from bushfires even before COVID. If anything, it acts as a disincentive for interstate people to head to Sydney and then to the Mountains.

“Instead of supporting our region, the Morrison Government is cu