The coronavirus pandemic's crippling impact on the motel industry in Launceston has left many accommodation providers with no idea how they'll recover, business owners say.
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Four businesses owned and operated by the Pentland Family Group, including the Quality Hotel Colonial and Mercure Launceston, have closed because of the virus.
Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Tasmania
Mercure Launceston general manager Tenille Pentland said while nobody knew the final financial cost of COVID-19's impact, mid-sized hotels were already seeing losses in the hundreds of thousands.
"We reviewed the numbers to operate on the drastically reduced occupancy levels forecast and decided it was not viable," Ms Pentland said.
"Large group booking of bus tours were retracted one by one until there were none. The flow on effect is significant when you consider how many café, restaurants, attractions they stop at as they tour the state."
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Ms Pentland said the virus meant a planned expansion of the business had to be shelved.
"At The Colonial, we had plans in at council to add 38 brand new apartments to the property," she said.
"It's been the most challenging and heartbreaking time in my professional life."
The federal government's JobKeeper payment helped the Pentland's keep staff employed, but Ms Petland said more support was needed for businesses and their workers.
"Tasmania has advised of a one-off payment to our visa holders, however we'd like more ongoing support for these people, as they play a huge role in hospitality and many have been paying their taxes for years in the jobs we allowed them to come here for.
"We hope that the government has locally owned and operated business top of mind in relation to any initiatives for hotel usage going forward during COVID-19."
Like the Pentland Family Group, Village Family Motor Inn owners Deepak and Kiran Joshi wanted more help from governments.
"We are a family run motel and this has hit us hard as we are not earning any money and on top of that we don't have money to survive in this condition," Ms Joshi said.
Another accomodation provider who wished to remain anonymous said COVID-19 had a "crippling" effect.
"The Tasmanian government and federal government have put us in an induced coma and we need life support," the business owner said.
State and federal governments have announced a raft of measures designed to help businesses during the economic downturn.
The measures increasing the availability of emergency grant support, interest free loans and advice about cashflow and business continuity.
Have your say with a letter to the editor:
Ryan Young
Journalist at The Examiner in Launceston via the Daily Liberal at Dubbo.
Journalist at The Examiner in Launceston via the Daily Liberal at Dubbo.
