Cost-of-living and conflict fears have ‘more Australians looking to holiday closer to home: tourism boss

Concerns about overseas conflicts are said to be persuading more Australians to holiday at home after last year’s post-pandemic flight to offshore destinations, helping alleviate weaker international tourist numbers. The head of the group behind G’Day and Discovery holiday parks and resorts, Grant Wilckens, puts a recent uptick in enquiries down to a combination of cost-of-living pressures and wariness around rising tensions in the Middle East after last month’s Hamas attack on Israel. “Summer is actually looking, really, really strong. We have noticed a change since (the Israel attack), people are wanting to stay a bit closer to home,” Mr Wilckens said. Discovery Parks Holdings covers more than 300 company-owned and franchised sites around the country, including the Lake Argyle Resort in the Kimberley, the nearby El Questro resort and the now 100 per cent-held Pinky’s on Rottnest Island. The group was a big beneficiary of the virus restrictions and lockdowns that confined Australians to home shores for the most part of two years, tripling profit to nearly $40 million in the 2021-22 financial year on a big growth spurt. Operating revenue jumped again last financial year, by 28 per cent to $344.8m, as the portfolio continued to expand, according to annual accounts for Discovery Parks filed with the corporate regulator. However, flooding that damaged holiday properties in NSW and Victoria, together with the loss of the Fitzroy River bridge, which limited access to the Kimberley, pushed the business to a $30.2m bottomline loss for the year to June 30.. Mr Wilckens said the loss included a $26.7m impairment, most of it to cover seven flood-affected properties on the east coast. The Fitzroy River bridge, a critical transport link in WA’s north, was seriously damaged in January by the flooding that followed Cyclone Ellie, disrupting trading for Discovery’s Kimberley sites. “So that whole region was a bit flat,” Mr Wilckens said. He also called out weaker-than-expected trading in the Red Centre, where Discovery operates the Kings Canyon Resort, three hours driving from Uluru. “We all probably had a softer season up there than we would have liked,” Mr Wilckens said. “And that’s partially because of (reduced) flight access, which is now coming back, but the other piece is probably the media and negative sentiment around the indigenous social issues in Alice Springs.” However, Mr Wilckens emphasised, “it’s been a pretty good year all things considered” for the group, which can look forward to an earlier-than-expected opening of the new Fitzroy River bridge at the end of 2023, well in time for the opening of next year’s Kimberley tourist season. He said Discovery was optimistic about the group’s outlook, even though international tourists have been slow to return to Australia since borders reopened after the COVID-19 lockdowns. “We are a long way away (from recovering 2019 visitor levels). We were slow off the mark, everybody else opened up really quickly and obviously our reputation was damaged,” Mr Wilckens said. “Having said that, we have great landscapes and we will get back there.” According to Tourism Australia, international visitor numbers for the year to the end of August were 32 per cent down on the same period in 2019. Discovery’s deal-making in WA in the year to June 30 including the purchase of the other half of the Pinky’s glamping venture from the Bailey family, the former owners of the Rottnest Express ferry service.