Border re-opening a game changer for SA

By Business SA, Chamber of Commerce and Industry South Australia, Chief Executive Officer Martin Haese

Published in The Advertiser SA Business Journal on Tuesday 23 June 2020

When the Premier re-opened South Australia’s borders last week to the NT, WA, Tas and QLD, he effectively gave SA the equivalent to a head start in the 100m final at the Olympics. Make no mistake, the competition for the COVID-safe local tourism dollar within Australia will be fierce.

With Aussies unable to travel overseas, States and Territories will be thrown into a battle against each other to claim a slice of the $65 billion pie that Aussies normally spend on international holidays. Fortunately, for our business owners, South Australia is now ahead of the race.

While the Premier originally suggested that SA’s borders could reopen on 20 July, Business SA advocated strongly that “A five-week wait is too long and SA’s borders should be opened to COVID safe jurisdictions like the NT and WA immediately.”

Four days later, the Premier responded to our calls. SA’s borders are now open to the NT and WA and Tasmania and QLD are also included. The value of this leadership cannot be understated.

While other States have set border reopening dates for later in July, our early border call means that visitors from the NT, WA, Tasmania and QLD can book their holidays to SA now.

Collectively, these markets inject $768 million into the South Australian economy every year.

Tourists don’t only spend money in our hotels and restaurants, they also spend in our retail stores, grocery stores, service stations, campgrounds, taxis, hire cars and so much more.

The self-drive tourism market is now ripe for the picking for South Australia, particularly in our regions, who are set to benefit most from what Business SA called the “Centre-Waste Travel Triangle” between SA, NT and WA.

The BIG4 Stuart Range Outback Resort in Coober Pedy is the last major stop before the Northern Territory. Grey Nomads normally stop in for a couple of nights while travelling either side of the border.

Like many of our outback towns, March to October is their peak tourism season, except that there have recently been no tourists says owner, Paul Athanasiadis.

“Re-opening our borders to the NT and WA is great news. This is supposed to be the busiest time of the year for us. This is where we make our bread and butter,” said Mr Athanasiadis.

“We’ve been hit really hard and there are a few businesses that won’t make it out of this. The borders closures could break a lot of businesses in the outback.”

Five weeks in business right now is an eternity. Every day is costing businesses just like the BIG4 in Coober Pedy, who are in a race against time to re-establish themselves before JobKeeper drops off in September.

While other governments twist and turn the same health data available to everyone to sometimes suit their own political agendas, South Australians can take comfort that the leadership in our State is ensuring that we not being left behind in the economic race to recover from COVID-19.