COVID-19 support for tourism industry

Financial assistance is available for South Australian businesses and individuals which were affected by the state-wide 7-day lockdown in July. 

Further financial support is also available for small and medium businesses in eligible industry sectors in SA that experienced a decline in turnover of 30 per cent or more over a two-week period as a result of the COVID-19 trading restrictions introduced from 28 July, 2021. 

For information on this financial support, read on below:

Business Support Package

The Business Support Package was introduced to assist small and medium businesses across the state, including restaurants, cafes, hotels, and tour and experience operators, affected by the lockdown restrictions in July.

Grants aimed to help businesses cover operating costs such as rent, power bills, supplier costs and other fees, while the 7-day lockdown was in place.

The major support package also included a $1,000 cash grant for eligible** small businesses that don’t employ staff (e.g. non-employing sole traders).

How to access business support:

  • Applications for the Business Support Grant must be submitted by 11:59pm, 30 September 2021. Details at: treasury.sa.gov.au

*To be eligible for the one-off $3,000 emergency cash grant, a business must, as at 12:01am Tuesday 20 July 2021:

  • Be located within South Australia
  • Have an annual turnover of $75,000 or more in 2020-21 or 2019-20, and be registered for GST
  • Employ people in South Australia
  • Have an Australia-wide payroll of less than $10 million in 2019-20
  • Have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN)
  • Experienced at least a 30 per cent reduction (compared to the week prior) in turnover due to the restricted trading conditions

**To be eligible for the one-off $1,000 emergency cash grant, a non-employing business must meet the criteria listed above excluding the requirement to employ people.

Additional Business Support Grant

A jointly-funded package by the Commonwealth and State Governments will support an estimated 19,000 local businesses in eligible industries – including tourism, hospitality and performing arts.

The package includes:

  • $3,000 cash grants for employing businesses and $1,000 for non-employing businesses (e.g. sole traders) in eligible industry sectors that experienced a decline in turnover of 30 per cent or more over a two-week period as a result of the COVID trading restrictions introduced from 28 July, 2021
  • An additional CBD grant of $1,000 for eligible businesses (employing and non-employing) with a commercial premise in the Adelaide CBD (postcode 5000), in recognition of the increased impact on city businesses as a result of people working from home.

For details, see treasury.gov.au.

Major Events Support Grant

Grants of up to $100,000 are available for eligible events that were either cancelled, or suffered a significant financial loss, as a result of having to be cancelled or postponed due to SA’s COVID-19 lockdown in July or further restrictions to 4 August.

For details, see treasury.gov.au.

Income relief for individuals

Weekly lump sum payments of $375 for workers who lost between eight and 19 hours of work a week, and $600 for those who lost 20 or more hours from SA's lockdown in July are available. 

How to access individual income relief:

  • State Government payments will be paid in arrears for the lockdown and anyone affected can apply through myGOV.
  • Details about how to claim the Federal Government's COVID-19 Disaster Payment (for those living in Commonwealth declared hotspots) are available on the Services Australia website.

Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment

Support is also available for South Australians who can't earn an income because they must self-isolate or quarantine, or are caring for someone with COVID-19. Information about the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment is available at the Services Australia website.

 

Further information

TRAVEL WITHIN SOUTH AUSTRALIA & BUSINESS RESTRICTIONS 

Level 1 restrictions are currently in place in South Australia. 

Restrictions include density limits of 3 people per 4 square metres in venues (75 per cent) and seated consumption of food and drink. 

For details of current COVID-19 restrictions in South Australia, refer to the official SA COVID-19 website at covid-19.sa.gov.au.  

 

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BORDERS

For information relating to South Australia's border restrictions, refer to the State Government’s COVID-19 information site at covid-19.sa.gov.au. For advice on SA border restrictions, you can call 1300 232 272.

For information about other state and territory border restrictions, please refer to the relevant state government website. 

 

CLOSURE OF AUSTRALIAN BORDERS

Only Australian citizens, residents and immediate family members can travel to Australia. All travellers to Australia will be required to undertake a mandatory 14-day quarantine at designated facilities (e.g. a hotel) in their port of arrival. See details here.

A ‘do not travel’ ban is in place on Australians travelling overseas under the Biosecurity Act 2015.

 

FOR MORE TRAVEL ADVICE AND INFORMATION

Refer to SmartTraveller.gov.au for the latest travel advice. A ‘do not travel’ ban is in place on Australians travelling overseas under the Biosecurity Act 2015.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) also provides travel advice and recommendations for international traffic, including how to protect yourself during the COVID-19 outbreak.

COVID Management Plan

Under the current Emergency Declaration, a COVID Management Plan, approved by SA Health, is required for a prescribed gathering:

  • Any activity of more than 1,000 people (reasonably expected to be present at or participating in the activity)
  • Venues wishing to offer both dancing and consumption of alcohol.

A COVID Management Plan is a more comprehensive plan than the COVID-Safe Plan (see information about COVID-Safe Plans below). The COVID Management Plan is required to adequately describe the management of higher risks associated with hosting larger numbers of people onsite and hosting higher risk activities.

Refer to the information at covid-19.sa.gov.au/recovery/create-a-covid-management-plan to create your COVID Management Plan. You can find useful guidance and frequently asked questions at that link.

 

COVID-Safe Plan

Under the current Emergency Declaration, if you are a business involved in a public activity or you are organising a public event for under 1,000 patrons, you are required to create and submit a COVID-Safe Plan.

Refer to the information at covid-19.sa.gov.au/recovery/create-a-covid-safe-plan to create a COVID-Safe Plan. 

COVID-SAFE EVENTS

The below information is provided for event and festival organisers seeking to hold COVID-safe events and help understand the requirements of SA Health to do so.

It includes details of a COVID Management Plan, COVID Safe Plan, differing risk levels of events, and how events are monitored.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN EVENTS COVID-19 GUIDELINE

The South Australian Events COVID-19 Guideline is designed to assist the events, festivals and entertainment industry to deliver COVID-safe events (that attract mass gatherings) in SA and help protect workers, patrons and the broader community.

The Guideline is designed to help event businesses, organisers and contractors understand government requirements (including the COVID Management Plan), your work health and safety duties, and identifying risks and mitigation strategies. While this Guideline has not yet been formally endorsed by SA Health, it is a useful resource and Events SA is continually evolving the Guideline as the situation evolves.

COVID MANAGEMENT PLAN ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK

A framework developed by SA Health’s COVID Management Committee has been released to guide people applying for a COVID Management Plan (CMP). The COVID Management Plan Assessment Framework (August 2021) is provided to help event organisers design lower-risk events, and to provide an indication of the risk tolerance of SA Health’s COVID Management Committee which is responsible for assessing and approving plans. This framework is to be used as a guide only – SA Health has indicated all plans are different and will be assessed on their own merits and subject to their own conditions.

If your current CMP outlines an event that does not align with the framework you may wish to consider adjusting your plans or discussing them with one of the CMP team before the CMP is submitted to the COVID Management Committee. SA Health can be contacted from Monday to Friday on 8226 7100 or Health.COVIDManagementPlan@sa.gov.au.

TRACKING AND RISK ASSESSMENT OF INTERSTATE WORKERS AND PERFORMERS

The South Australian Events COVID-19 Guide includes information about interstate people involved in your event and good links to the key information needed from each state. The ‘Interstate people working on my event-movements’ spreadsheet can be used in conjunction with the guide to provide the means for:

  • listing your interstate workers and performers working at your event,
  • the state and their regional locations from where they have travelled from 14 days before arriving in South Australia,
  • the travel destination after their work here in South Australia,
  • an assessment of the risk for each individual.

The spreadsheet can be downloaded here for your own use.

COVID-SAFE EVENT POSTER RESOURCES

The below print ready and working files are made available to events either as examples or to be utilised for clear and appropriate COVID-safe event signage.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S EVENTS CALENDAR

Events and festivals shape South Australian life. We believe a balanced South Australian calendar benefits everyone and we welcome the opportunity to discuss intended dates with those rescheduling postponed events and festivals for 2020-21. See the South Australian events calendar via our managed events page here. If you have new event dates that you would like to be included in the calendar, please email us at esa@sa.gov.au, or get in touch with your usual Events South Australia contact.


OTHER RESOURCES

  • Keep up the momentum – tips for maintaining communication and event momentum during downtime
  • Where to from here? – steps and ideas for event organisers who have to postpone or cancel their event due to COVID-19
  • Make sure your event is listed with the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse to receive valuable exposure through southaustralia.com and other SATC marketing activities. Read more about creating your ATDW event listing here.

Vehicles and other movable objects that are available for hire by members of the public for the purpose of tours or other recreational activities are a defined public activity under the Emergency Management (Public Activities) (COVID-19) Direction 2020.

This means the person conducting the tour/activity must:

  • Complete a COVID Safe Plan
  • Keep contact tracing records.

The Guidance for transport and tour vehicles fact sheet provides information for transport and tour vehicles of all types (excluding public transport) to operate safely and manage COVID-19 health risks.

Accommodation service providers who have guests in isolation or quarantine provide an important service for the community. 

The following fact sheets will help to ensure your staff, other guests and the South Australian public remain safe and well:

For more information, see the SA Health website.

Certain restrictions remain on shared/communal food service and facilities. For more information, see the Public Activities Direction.

  • Food and beverages (including alcohol) must be consumed by patrons while seated at tables that are physically separate from any bar or where orders are taken. 
  • Any shared equipment and frequently-touched surfaces must be cleaned between use by different individuals or groups.

For more information, see the SA Health website.

A QR code system – COVID SAfe Check-In – is in place in South Australia to enable quick and effective contract tracing capabilities. 

Businesses with a COVID Safe Plan are provided a unique QR code which is to be printed off and displayed in a prominent location within the business.

When people arrive at a venue or business, they are to check-in by scanning the QR code using their smart phone through the mySA Gov app. For those who don’t have the app, they can simply use their smart phone camera to scan the QR code, which will prompt a secure web-form to open for them to check in. Once checked in, patrons will receive confirmation via a 'green tick'.

The COVID SAfe Check-In applies to all defined public activities with a COVID Safe Plan. It includes licensed venues, any premises with on-site or takeaway consumption of food, providers of recreational transport, and more. 

Frequently asked questions for businesses and customers are available at covid-19.sa.gov.au/business-and-work/covid-safe-check-in.

The Federal Government has support for people affected by nationally-declared COVID-19 hotspots. See Services Australia for details and how to apply.

For South Australians outside of the 'hotspot' areas, the State Government has matched the income relief to extend state-wide. Apply through myGOV from Wednesday, 28 July.

Support is also available for South Australians who can't earn an income because they must self-isolate or quarantine, or are caring for someone with COVID-19. Information about the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment is available at the Services Australia website.

Wellbeing and mental health support resources are available from not-for-profit organisations, such as:

If you are seeking information on COVID-19, you can call the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

For South Australian COVID-19 enquiries, call 1800 253 787, available 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week.

A ban is in place on all international cruise ships to Australia until 17 December 2021.