‘Be patient, be kind’: Why tourism businesses are reducing opening hours

Key points

• Tourism operators expect a busy holiday period with no COVID restrictions. 
• Businesses warned they must restrict opening hours due to staff shortages. 
• Worker accommodation remains an intractible problem. 

Cafes, restaurants, galleries and other businesses are scaling back their opening hours in tourism hotspots across Victoria as staff shortages bite just as the summer holiday peak arrives.

Businesses say they have little choice but to reduce their operating times, despite expectations of high customer demand after two summers of COVID-19 restrictions, while hospitality and retail workers remain scarce.

Roger Lancia in the restaurant at Pt Leo Estate. Credit:Joe Armao

Mornington Peninsula Regional Tourism Board chairman Roger Lancia said holidaymakers should not assume all businesses would be open seven days a week or always operating at full capacity.

He said some businesses were closing on public holidays while others were opening for fewer hours than previous years, so they could prevent workforce burnout and avoid disappointing customers with substandard service.

“I don’t think anyone wants to jeopardise the tourism experience,” Lancia said.

Lancia is also general manager of the Pt Leo Estate winery, where the sculpture park and cellar door are open seven days. But its two-hatted restaurant, Laura, is only open from Friday to Monday for lunch and Friday and Saturday for dinner. The estate’s other restaurant is open daily for lunch, but open only for dinner from Friday to Sunday.

Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula, where tourism operators are expecting a busy summer.Credit:Joe Armao

Lancia said he would prefer to open the restaurants for more hours, but it was important to ensure the business could honour bookings even while managing staff shortages.

“We want to make sure we’re not cancelling bookings. That is upsetting saying no to people who were expecting to come. Last year, a lot of us had to do that.”

At Lorne on the Surf Coast, Qdos Fine Arts director Graeme Wilkie said he needed at least three more workers to operate his cafe, art gallery and accommodation normally.

Wilkie said he usually opened his cafe on Boxing Day, but could not do so this year. He reduced his cafe’s trading hours from seven days a week to five days over the summer peak, and he has also cancelled live performances.

Property owners in Lorne are being urged to “adopt a worker” this summer. Credit:Eddie Jim

“My income has dropped considerably,” he said.

He said workers demanding higher wages and a lack of housing for them were the biggest reasons behind his inability to hire more staff.

“I, too, could sit on the beach reading books as well,” he said. “But I didn’t build the whole operation to think it’s a hobby.”

Many hospitality businesses previously relied on working tourists from overseas, and while they have been returning since the reopening of Australia’s borders earlier this year, housing remains an intractable problem.

The Surf Coast Shire is promoting an “adopt a worker” program in Lorne, which encourages property owners to host an employee over summer.

Mayor Liz Pattison said just eight employees were hosted in five properties last summer, but hoped the program would yield better results this year.

She confirmed businesses across the Surf Coast were opening their doors for fewer hours due to staffing challenges.

“Definitely accommodation is the main focus,” she said. “There are plenty of jobs for people to work down here for summer.”

Mervel Porter, who lives in Noojee near the Baw Baw Alpine Village, has spent the past few days visiting family in St Leonards near Geelong. She said some businesses had been closed there, but she chose to stay in with family rather than eating out.

The latest annual report from Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine showed spending in the visitor economy had returned to pre-pandemic levels of about $1.1 billion in the 12 months to June 2022 in the region, but jobs in that sector fell by 57 per cent to about 3250.

The group’s executive director, Tracy Carter, said these figures illustrated the immense strain on businesses and urged holidaymakers to show understanding.

“Be patient, be kind. People are doing the best they can,” she said. “Booking ahead is a great idea.”

A busy summer is expected on Phillip Island. Credit:Eddie Jim

Destination Phillip Island general manager Kim Storey said many businesses were staying closed until December 28 rather than reopening immediately after Christmas Day.

“There’s definitely a direction towards valuing the staff they have right now to give them a proper break,” she said.

The latest census figures showed Phillip Island’s population was nearly 14,000, but Storey said its summer peak surged to about 50,000.

She said recent COVID outbreaks on Phillip Island had worsened staff shortages.

“It definitely snuck up on us again when we thought we probably avoided it this season.”

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