Darwin Businesses Face Challenges Amid Rising Costs and Lower Bookings

Two weeks ago, Flora's Temper — a popular restaurant and bar in the northern Darwin suburb of Nightcliff — announced it was closing down, just two years after opening.

A day later, it shut its doors for good.

The venue's owner, Nicho Peters, isn't looking to blame anyone for the closure.

"It was my business and it was my responsibility to run it right," he said.

But the Northern Territory's peak body representing restaurants and bars is less forgiving.

"Flora's Temper had been in planning purgatory for six months, waiting on a permit for outdoor dining," Hospitality NT chief executive Cathy Simmonds said.

A range of challenges

Struggles with obtaining approvals from the City of Darwin are just one challenge facing Top End hospitality and tourism businesses as they head into the peak tourism season, with global fuel shortages pushing up the price of airfares and tightening family holiday budgets.

Michelle Elliott has owned and operated the Spirit of Darwin sunset cruise boat alongside her husband Darren for 16 years.

She said the combination of higher fuel costs and a drop in bookings this year had created tough conditions for the business.

"At this time of year we would normally be cruising four to five nights a week with really good numbers, but we've dropped it down to two to three nights a week," she said.

"It's difficult to have enough people to cover your costs if you go out too often."

Looking for solutions

Ms Elliott said her business had not seen a time this difficult since COVID-19, and is calling on the NT government to re-introduce pandemic-era support measures.

"The voucher system that was in during COVID was amazing," she said.

"It got locals out to see what was around in their own backyard, so let's hope they bring something like that back."

Mr Peters said a voucher scheme could have helped Flora's Temper as well, saying government grants were too focused on bookable tourism experiences, leaving businesses like his to struggle.

"I take people on croc tours every time they come up here, but there probably needs to be [grants] for when those folks come to town, they want to go to a venue, they want to have a drink, they want to get something to eat.

"There probably needs to be something to help us little guys maintain and improve what we're doing."

While Ms Simmonds is not opposed to vouchers or grant funding in the longer term, she said there were also less expensive measures that could help businesses right away.

"There's a range of solutions that would be good for different small businesses in the hospitality and tourism sectors, and vouchers could definitely play a part there," she said.

"But there's some really easy no- or low-cost things that officials can do right now."

An uncertain future

Any measures introduced now would be too late for Flora's Temper, but Mr Peters wants to see the Darwin council make life easier for other businesses like his.

"A lot of institutions claim to have the back of small business … and they'll talk about wanting to help the little guys," he said.

"Whereas in reality, there's lots of hurdles and lots of red flags and lots of red lights along the way."

On the Spirit of Darwin, the tourism season is just getting under way, and so much of the business' success depends on factors outside of Michelle and Darren Elliott's control — but they remain optimistic.

"We made it through COVID, so we can make it through this," Ms Elliott said.

In a statement, the NT Department of Tourism and Hospitality acknowledged fuel pressures and other economic conditions were impacting tourism and hospitality, and that Darwin bookings from May to August had been lower than the same time last year.

The department said in response to the current conditions, it had "significantly increased tactical investment and intervention" in the industry, including by partnering with airlines and launching marketing campaigns.

Asked about vouchers, the department said they "do not necessarily drive interstate visitation or bring new money into the Territory economy", and uptake was "typically concentrated among already popular operators, rather than the businesses experiencing the greatest challenges".

The City of Darwin has been contacted for comment.