It all started from bushfire and suddenly burned a major portion of Australia’s forest. Tourists are among those affected in the terrible wildfires in Australia. In recent days, many embassies and government bodies have updated their travel advice to citizens concerning travel to Australia, telling them to stay abreast of the situation by following local media and be prepared to comply with any evacuation orders. U.S. Embassy officials in Australia already have warned that tourists on Australia’s South Coast of New South Wales should leave. The country’s most populated areas like Victoria and New South Wales, more than 200 fires are burning across. New South Wales’s Rural Fire Service map showed a large cluster of wildfires from south of Brisbane to the south of Canberra, Australia’s capital. By keeping in mind the situation the states of Victoria and New South Wales have declared states of emergency from Friday as conditions worsen, and evacuations may become mandatory. From current news that is coming from Australia’s news resources that more than 20 people along with an estimated, half a billion animals have died from the blazes.
Australia’s Deadly Wildfires
How Many People Have Died?
Australia Wildfire
The reports that are coming from Australia reveal that around 1,588 homes had been destroyed in New South Wales, Australia. NSW Police confirms 20 people have died and more than 28 people still missing not been found yet. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) estimated the damage bill from bushfires across the country that was 700 million dollars. There has been 8,985 insurance claimed till now for fire-related damage.
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How Many Animals Have Died?
Australia’s Deadly Wildfires
The University of Sydney released a report and estimates 480 million animals have been killed in New South Wales till now. Including mammals, birds, and reptiles have been killed either due to loss of food or directly by the fires, and habitat. The authorities are saying the fires have raised concerns in particular about koalas as much as 30% of their habitat in some areas had been destroyed completely. There are many images gone viral on the internet of the marsupials drinking water from bottles. They all are being rescued by people.
Australia’s federal Environment Minister confirmed that up to 30% of koalas in New South Wales may have been wiped out. Now the question arises, Did this tragedy will shake the tourism industry?
Impact on Tourism
Australia’s Deadly Wildfires
After observing images and videos that are coming from the forest Australian Tourism Industry Council warned that it will affect Australian tourism. The officials estimated the loss of the tourism industry is approx. hundreds of millions of dollars. The fires have already devastated some of Australia’s key tourism areas like East Gippsland in Victoria and the New South Wales south coast.
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Tourist towns including Batemans Bay and Mogo in New South Wales have devastated fires. Fire and Rescue NSW also gave direction to people and tourists to evacuate the Kosciuszko national park, including the Thredbo resort. The operator of Event Hospitality & Entertainment confirmed would be “closed until further notice.” Simon Westaway, Tourism council Executive Director briefed media and tell people that our first priority was to help local communities, and indicated towards an unquestionable mounting impact on tourism from these fires. The school, colleges, and other places will be closed until further notice. The businesses that are totally dependent on tourism will face huge economic tragedy.
Australia’s Deadly Wildfires
In terms of the effect, these devastating fires will have on Australia’s travel and tourism industry. Australia Tourism staff tell the media that they are currently gathering feedback and monitoring impacts on future bookings closely as the situation unfolds. But for now, their focus is on the present. They added that as we have seen, a number of regional destinations have been affected and people’s travel plans have been impacted but at this stage, it is too early to quantify the full impact of the bushfires on the tourism industry. And last they hoped and said that when affected communities are ready to once again welcome visitors across the world, tourism will continue to play an important role in their supporting their recovery. That is a very remarkable comment regarding this whole fire tragedy.
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