Catastrophic fire warning hits tourism

Catastrophic fire warning hits tourism

08 February 2010

published by www.abc.net.au

Australia —  The Northern Grampians Shire Council says the code red catastrophic conditions declared in the Wimmera three weeks ago have devastated tourism with the same force as the major bushfire in 2006.

Tourism operators have complained of a severe decrease in bookings in the past few weeks.

Mayor Kevin Erwin says he hopes to bring back visitors by using a similar marketing campaign to that used after the Halls Gap fire.

“We go through the same routine as when we actually had a fire and it’ll take the same hard work to bring back tourists,” he said.

“There are a number of events coming up, the jazz festival on the 12th and 13th of February and that’ll give some indication of how people feel about coming to Halls Gap.”