'You keep on hearing people say things like: 'this has been the worst day I’ve ever had'. And then it keeps on going… and it gets progressively worse,' said a local tourism manager.
"You couldn't line up three worse events if you tried," said Nigel Ayling, president of the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce. Local businessesdue to the fires, and Mr Ayling estimates that figure would now be 80 per cent.
Merimbula Tourism manager Chris Nicholls urged NSW and Canberra tourists to visit the South Coast as towns were "all held together by vinegar and brown paper at the moment; it's all JobKeeper territory". Manager of the NRMA Merimbula beach holiday resort and caravan park, Jasamine Jones, said the resort was now dependent on tourists from within the state.
When the Easter travel season was also cancelled amid a two-month coronavirus shutdown, most resort staff left to find work elsewhere. "Every day we are having to adapt to something new," Ms Jones said., said the border closure would have a significant impact on struggling southern NSW communities as most tourists came from Victoria.
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