Travel agents say increasing COVID-19 case numbers, which has forced thousands to isolate, has led to people cancelling bookings across the state | Mattonews Rabe9
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has urged the public to press ahead with plans to holiday in regional areas recovering from bushfire and other natural disasters, despite escalating COVID-19 cases forcing many people to cancel or delay trips.
“Let’s get out and about and enjoy the best that our state has to offer over this holiday season,” he said. “We’re going to get through it.” NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is encouraging people to stick with their plans to holiday in regional NSW.Accommodation operators and travel agents say the increasing case numbers, which has forced thousands to isolate, has resulted in customers cancelling bookings at venues across the state.
And he warned that booking cancellations had “huge” flow-on effects for tourism and travel operators which were under financial strain or experiencing staff shortages. Mr Munro said cancellations tended to spike when governments made announcements about changes to pandemic restrictions, and he urged states to adopt uniform measures so that the public did not need a “pocketful of rules” to travel around the country.
Motorists driving south on the Princes Highway between Berry and Nowra experienced delays of up to 20 minutes on Sunday. However, delays were relatively minor at other typical choke points across the state such as the New England Highway at Hexham, in Newcastle.