Visitors to the area and managing Covid risks

As we all know, 2020 has been a terrible year for our visitor economy, firstly due to the fires, then Covid. With restrictions lifting in most areas, and international travel still banned at the moment, there is going to be a huge surge in domestic tourism at least for the foreseeable future.

This increased visitation is likely to come from our traditional markets like Victoria, the ACT, Sydney and other areas of NSW. A lot of these visitors are also coming to support our local community because they have seen the devastation that we have been through, and we genuinely appreciate those sentiments.

Our community and economy heavily relies on visitation, especially as our businesses try to claw back some of what was lost over the past 6 months.

Understandably there are also some concerns about the potential for visitors to bring the Covid-19 virus into our community. We all need to be vigilant about how we manage the risks in our business and in the community. Whilst there are currently some hot spots across the border in Victoria, it is quite likely, these hot spots will occur across the country for some time to come. We will all have to learn to manage these situations, until such time as a vaccine or treatment is found to control the virus.

In the meantime it is important that we continue to welcome visitors to the area, without fear or favour to any one group or another. We certainly don’t want to deter all visitors from Victoria, because there are a few hot spots, and the reality is that visitors traveling from ANY area could potentially transmit the virus into our community, so we need to take the same precautions with everyone, not just select groups.

So how do we manage this? Well the simple answer is we follow the Government guidelines that are in place, and we continue to practice good social distancing and hygiene practices. We have provided a list of resources for you on our website and will continue to provide you with relevant updates.

We encourage ALL businesses to undertake the Covid Safe plan. https://pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/my-business-covidsafe-plan.pdf

If we ALL practice these measures, we can manage the risks to our community, staff, businesses and visitors, and our economy can begin to recover.

Remember, let’s make our visitors feel welcome, let’s stay safe, and rebuild our economy.