Several Katherine caravan park operators believe it is probably too late to save the Territory tourist season by easing border restrictions.
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The grey nomad traffic which the town relies on during the bumper dry season has completely dried up because of coronavirus closures.
Tourism has been the worst-hit industry in the Territory with many operators flagging an uncertain future for their businesses over the coming year.
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner today indicated the border closures could last to August.
Manager of the sprawling Katherine Holiday Park, Tracy Bache, said a relaxation of 14-day quarantine conditions may help a bit, but that in itself was not enough to justify risking the lives of Territorians.
Those entering the Territory must currently pay $2500 for a government-supervised two-week period, but at the start of the pandemic people could simply pay the resort to accommodate and support them.
"At this time of year we would usually be completely full, all 44 acres," Mrs Bache said.
"We have about six people here right now, so the impact on us has been immense.
"Realistically, those who would be willing to quarantine in order to be here are the small but useful percentage who stay on long-term.
"There are older people who come up here for the warmer weather and hang around, but they would only be about 10 per cent of our business.
"This industry is about people, anything which brings people in the door is a massive help but for the Territory to have an outbreak would do even more damage to us as a business.
"I would hope from a business perspective they act cautiously because we couldn't afford the impact more cases would have on us.
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Knott's Crossing Resort general manager Jo Pace said the business would continue innovating to survive and would take whatever comes.
She said it would all be too little, too late in the grand scheme of things.
"We were able to have success in getting government approval to host quarantine, and we've also had border force stationed here so we've done okay," she said.
"Running a business during COVID-19 is a matter of take every opportunity you can get, so we would absolutely set ourselves up to host people if the quarantine requirements were eased.
"Would caravans make a big difference to us? No, we're looking for them to go a bit easier on corporate visitors because they're the ones who actually spend.
"Nomads want to stay on the roadside and they don't like to spend their money.
"Is it safe yet to do that? I don't know, we have observed here people do take their quarantine fairly safe but the impact of another set of cases would be immense," Ms Pace said.
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