Standing in the gleaming lobby of the major Darwin hotel he manages, Markus Kaliss says this dry season has the potential to attract a record number of bookings for the venue – if only he could find enough staff.
"At the moment we're not fully booked, but there's already now days and weeks where we're saying 'you know what, that's it, we don't sell more because we can't handle [it], unless we find staff'," Mr Kaliss said.
"So we are now capping capacity, simply for staffing reasons."
Mr Kaliss is not alone.
The pandemic has brought a challenging two years for businesses, and Mr Kalliss's hotel is one of countless hotels, restaurants and bars across Australia struggling to meet demand due to staff shortages.
But while the problem is nation-wide, it's threatening to have a particularly severe impact in the Top End, as it enters its peak tourist season this month.
Mr Kaliss said it was a "tough time" for territory hospitality businesses, which were also grappling with existing staff taking time off after catching COVID-19 or leaving due to the territory government's wide-ranging vaccine mandate.
'Perfect storm' leads to shortages
Alex Bruce, the head of the Territory's peak hospitality industry body, said Top End businesses were bracing for strong demand this dry season, especially from interstate.
But with few international visitors in Australia – including prospective workers – and a large number of former domestic staff having left the industry for other sectors during the pandemic, Mr Bruce said the staffing situation was dire.
"What we're hearing now from people that have travelled over to South-east Asia, is a lot of people that were working in the tourism and hospitality industry in those countries, they've moved into other industries as well," he said.
Mr Bruce said the crisis was having serious impacts on hospitality businesses, which were still trying to recover from a difficult few years during the pandemic.
"You're seeing restaurants unable to open during the day, during the week, even though the demand is there," he said.
"We are hearing that some of the hotels around town can't get all their rooms online.
"So it's still a great time to get out and about – the weather's never better — and you'll still get a good experience in our venues, but the tip is this year, to plan and book, and book early."
Martin Bouchier, the owner and chef of a restaurant in Darwin said the current staff shortage at his business made the dry season a "scary" prospect.
"There's just not the [staff] around to be able to accommodate the people that want to come into the town as tourists," he said.
"So we're bringing people into the CBD, into Darwin and into the Northern Territory, and yet there's not the backpackers or the international students or the working group to keep us going."
NT government pledges funds for tourism industry
Today Tourism and Hospitality Minister Natasha Fyles announced more funding for the territory's tourism industry, ahead of the delivery of the 2022 NT budget tomorrow.
It includes $1.3 million for attracting and retaining tourism staff and $1 million for marketing to international students, as well as $14.2 million for generally promoting the NT over the next year.
Mr Bruce said the initiatives were welcome, with international students making up "a core part of the hospitality workforce".
However, he said a range of measures were needed to help solve the sector's staffing crisis, including fast-tracking work visas, easing working hour limits for international students, and even the NT government scrapping its worker vaccine mandate.
"It's not just when the borders open we can flick a switch and get everybody back," Mr Bruce said.
