Years Serving the SA Hotel Industry
From the President DAVID BASHEER – AHA|SA PRESIDENT
Time to Learn from Mistakes of the Past KEY POINTS: • Speed up vaccination.
• State what percentage of the population must be vaccinated to return to unrestricted trading.
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• Credit where it is due: SA did not go into lockdown thanks to the Police Commissioner and Premier. There would not be a hotel in South Australia, regardless of its size or location, that has not lost business in the past two weeks as a result of COVID-related restrictions. Our members and our staff cannot continue to operate this way. Again, in the last two weeks, we have endured: • Lost accommodation bookings due to border closures
including staff, a staggering $30 million. LEADERSHIP In government and in our health departments, we need adults in the room and we need real leadership.
• The loss of general bookings and trade as a result of the limited capacity.
In South Australia last week, our officials certainly stood out. Those restrictions when we had no cases and our borders closed to hot spots appeared premature, but the fact we did not go into lockdown when cases emerged was a credit to our Police Commissioner and Premier.
As Ian Horne has publicly stated, it is likely to have cost the industry,
As leaders in other States bickered all week instead of focussing on
• Mass cancellations of function and events, especially cocktail parties with no stand up drinking • Live music shows cancelled
4 | Hotel SA | W W W . A H A S A . A S N . A U
those affected, SA leaders, to their great credit, have stayed closer to the facts and the needs of the people they are there to serve. WE WARNED OF THIS SCENARIO In April, I used this column to express concern about the apathetic attitude to the vaccine rollout from our political and health leaders. They told us we must be cautious and careful, as well as the infamous “it’s not a race” line. By contrast, we sent a strong message from the tens of thousands of South Australians with “a dog in the fight”, that those comfortable with the slow pace Back to Contents
