Accommodation providers and tourist attractions hoping for a better holiday season than a year ago are experiencing mixed fortunes.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At BIG4 Easts Beach Holiday Park in Kiama co-owner Leanne Williams said the busyness started just after Christmas with heavy traffic heading down the coast.
But it has been sporadic since then as new COVID announcements are made daily. And now Victorians are packing up and leaving to make it home before the border closure.
"It has been busy," Mrs Williams said.
"We started with heaps of inquiries and weren't able to help everyone but it has been up and down since then.
"We have had bookings beings cancelled. Our biggest market is Sydney and there has been a lot going on up there and people are cancelling for different reasons. But we seem to be re-booking those fairly quickly from people who are still willing to travel."
Mrs Williams said Victorians started heading back home a couple of days ago.
She said Easts Beach is still almost full but it doesn't seem as busy as other years because everyone is abiding by the latest advise and keeping to themselves.
"The weather has been a big part of that too. The mood is quieter this year."
Mrs Williams had heard of Wollongong people being turned away from some venues on the South Coast but they are welcome at Easts Beach. She said there was growing interest from the local market as people change holiday plans.
"The majority of people are still from Sydney. But there are a few more Wollongong people looking at us now."
At Illawarra Fly general manager Andrew Zentrich said it is hard to know what the next day is going to look like.
"But we are trading better now than we were at this time last year which is really positive," he said.
To ensure safety for all visitors when people arrive at Illawarra Fly the check-in process involves staff noting their postcode.
They then check that against a latest list of businesses that NSW Health has identified as sites that if people have visited they should monitor for symptoms and get tested.
They then ask visitors if they have been to any of those locations.
Mr Zentrich said the Illawarra Fly was still attracting many people from Sydney eager to get out and about after being so restricted in 2020. He said they were making up the deficit from what have been lost from interstate and international travel restrictions.
Illawarra residents who have cancelled travel plans are also exploring their own backyard a little more.
He said the zipline is restricted to groups of six people with participants asked to wear masks and regularly use hand sanitiser.
Read more:
- Christmas windfall for Unanderra couple gifted a $25,000 scratch it
- No new Wollongong cases - but Crown Street venue may hold 'missing link' to Avalon cluster
- Symbio works hard to save koala population decimated by last summer's bushfires
- 'Amazing response' as Wollongong restaurants deliver free food to frontline workers
- NSW Governor impressed with Illawarra community response to COVID-19
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.