The Tasmanian Government recently announced a package of targeted assistance for Tasmanian businesses adversely impacted by the spread of the Omicron variant. 

The package is designed to assist those Tasmanian businesses - including tourism and hospitality operators - that have seen a reduction in business due to COVID-19 since mid-December 2021.

CEO of the Tourism Industry Council Luke Martin said, “The package of financial assistance announced by the State Government provides welcome relief for the many businesses impacted by the Omicron wave, especially in the hospitality sector.”

The downturn may be caused by a loss of staff due to COVID-19 exposure that has affected the business’s ability to operate, or loss of business due to significantly lower than usual local customer demand.

Funding of between $1000 and $5000 will be available to eligible businesses, depending on business size.

Support of up to $5000 will also be available to business that experienced an unavoidable loss of perishable goods because they have had to close.

“Since COVID first hit nearly two years ago, we’ve had different groups of businesses disrupted by every decision to close or re-open our borders,” Mr Martin said. 

“The State Government has always been responsive in delivering packages of support to impacted businesses when they most need it, and giving them the best opportunity to ride through each disruption with their business models and staff structures intact.

“We are dealing with a situation right now where we have many businesses within our visitor economy doing really well, while at the same time many are struggling in managing staff levels and the drop in local trade.

“It’s a really challenging set of circumstances, and the package is an important leg-up for those businesses who have been most impacted by the Omicron wave.

“We are hopeful this Omicron wave does come under control sooner than later, and we can look forward to a more normal set of operating conditions for all businesses through 2022.”

To be eligible businesses must be able to demonstrate a minimum of 30% reduction in turnover when comparing December 15 - January 14 2022, with the same period in 2021, have a COVID-19 Safety Plan, a completed risk assessment in place and, where required, a COVID-19 Case and Outbreak Management Plan, and have been using the Check in Tas app.

Guidelines are available on the Business Tasmania website.