Australia Counts Tourism Cost of Cyclone
QUEENSLAND, Australia, March 21, 2006. Australia is still counting the cost of the devastation caused by Cyclone Larry and its impact on the tourism industry in northeastern Queensland.
The bill for the cyclone damage is estimated to be up to $750 million. Homes around Innisfail and Tully, south of Cairns are still without water and power supplies.
With people in the clear up phase, authorities are asking for there not to be a second wave of damage if tourists potentially stay away from the region.
Tourism and Transport Forum managing director Christopher Brown is already calling for any recovery plans to include supplementary funding for Tourism Queensland to stimulate tourists to return to the area.
"What the local tourism industry needs in north Queensland is for Australians to keep to their travel plans to visit the area," Brown told the Australian Associated Press.
Brown expects the cyclone will only have only a short-term effect on tourism because of the resilience of the domestic market and its for north Queensland.
Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the state's popular resorts, used as jumping off points for the Great Barrier Reef, were still open for business.
"Some operators have told us there have been cancellations and they are quite distraught about this," he told Agence France Presse. "We don't want a second wave of damage done to those regions by everybody staying away in droves."
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