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www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
Issues raised at local health forum
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
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Weeding strikes with a double
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Business brisk... ...but penalty rates kill the profit margin for many who opened p BY BAILEY ZIMMERMANN bzimmermann@ nemedia.com.au
THE four day weekend saw mixed results for local hospitality business, with an uplift of visitation not enough for many to cover the penalty rates paid to stay open. The public holiday Thursday to mourn Queen Elizabeth II, coupled with the AFL Grand Final holiday on Friday, saw many businesses stay closed across the rural city, with one economist saying the extra holiday cost the Australian economy around $2 billion. Shayne Gannon from the Old Town and Country Tavern said the extra public holiday changed the flow of business after a steady start to the school holiday period. “We had a really solid Wednesday night, since it was the end of the week,” she said, “but the busier periods landed at different times than we anticipated which made it a little bit harder”. “I certainly wasn’t a fan of the additional public holiday. “I think there was a lot of other ways we could’ve shown respect to the Queen and throwing an extra public holiday was certainly
HERE TO SERVE: Old Town and Country Tavern remained open over the long weekend with business still brisk yesterday. Patron Guenter Nichols, pictured with Tiana Luyt, was among the many diners. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling unnecessary. “It was never going to be busy enough to accommodate for what it cost us to stay open. “Even though we had great services and a lot of people around, unfortunately it’s still not viable to help cover what it costs to trade on public holidays. “I think any small business being thrown a last
AFTER 23 YEARS
minute public holiday in the mix is difficult, as we had a lot of issues with suppliers, getting stock, and it threw a sense of confusion into everything.” Ms Gannon said she expected solid business for the duration of the school holidays, despite counting the losses from the long weekend. In the King Valley, Linda
Newton said her La Cantina winery experience was a better than expected weekend for business, after staying closed on Thursday out of respect for the Queen. “The weekend was really good; we had lots of people around, lots of visitation, it was good to have people back in the valley,” she said. “Friday I was expecting it to be busy but we weren’t
sure on how we would go on Saturday....the morning was very busy and it continued throughout the day, even when the footy was on we still had lots of people coming through. “The Edi Cutting has a lot of campers and there’s a lot more movement in the area at the moment.” Celeste Brockwell, council’s manager - economic
development, environment and compliance, said the rural city was pleased to be welcoming an increasing number of visitors to the region this spring. “Accommodation providers are reporting consistently high occupancy rates over weekends, in addition to weekly corporate stays,” Ms Brockwell said. ■ Continued page 2
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