CELEBRITY cook Stefano de Pieri believes tourism is the key to helping rebuild the hospitality and accommodation industry in Sunraysia.
Mr de Pieri expects regional Victoria will attrract a big increase in visitor numbers once COVID-19 restrictions are eased and, along with other industry leaders, is calling on Mildura Rural City Council (MRCC) to provide support.
“COVID restrictions will come to an end at some stage or other and overseas travel will not resume quickly,” Mr de Pieri said.
“Seeing what is happening in Europe right now, there are plenty of reasons not to go there and Asia remains in trouble.
“It stands to reason that Australians will travel internally, domestically and regionally.
“We have already experienced signs of that after the first lockdown.”
Mr de Pieri, a council candidate who has spent almost three decades working in the hospitality industry, said it was important planning started now on how to attract more people to the region.
“We need council and our mayor to provide us with a clear road map beyond COVID-19,” Mr de Pieri said.
“Can we say we are ready to welcome a stack of visitors? In some respects, yes.
“We have great houseboats and camping grounds, a great riverfront and cultural assets like our galleries and good cafes and restaurants.
“We are surrounded by national parks, which are bordered to the north by the Murray (River), we have Mungo National Park and what’s left of the Darling River and we have fantastic sunsets and daunting landscapes and more.
“But we need to tell people about these wonderful things and we need people to come to our great town so our wonderful cafes, restaurants and accommodation houses, who have been so badly hit by this virus, can start to rebuild.”
