TRAVEL AGENTS across western Victoria are struggling under the weight of the COVID-19 Delta outbreak, with the optimism of just months ago, now a distant memory.
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Travel agent Emma Coburn operates her business from her home in Ararat and said the past few months were some of the hardest of the pandemic.
"It's not been a good three months to be honest," she said.
"It's been a rollercoaster, lockdowns coming in and out. It's been exactly the same across the tourism industry.
"It's been really tricky to stay afloat because your income is tied to bookings going ahead."
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Ms Coburn said she was still cancelling the last of the bookings she had received in March and April after Victoria had started to open back up to the rest of Australia.
Ms Coburn had initially planned to focus on New Zealand travel during the ski season, however she's instead being forced to cancel bookings through to September.
"I'm now having to charge a minimum hourly service fee to cancel bookings, otherwise I'm working for $0. It's a bit depressing to be honest," she said.
Even still, Ms Coburn considers herself one of the lucky ones as she's been able to take advantage of government COVID payments for businesses.
"I've gotten a few of the grants that the Victorian government has been giving businesses during the lockdowns, but I'm just squirrelling that away at the moment because I've still got to pay all my insurance, system and accreditation fees," she said.
"It all adds up, but when you haven't had an income and you've been handing all the money you've earned back for the past two years, it's a bit soul destroying."
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Hope seems further away than three months ago, with the resumption of international travel now no closer to resuming.
The travel bubble with New Zealand was suspended for all of Australia on July 23.
The uncertainty of when travel will resume was one aspect taking its toll, with travel agents stuck in limbo.
"I'm strong willed, and I've said from the start I'm one of the lucky ones... but it's hard when you've worked hard to build something and it's not really going anywhere at the moment," she said.
Travel agencies were among the first to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and will be one of the last to see the benefits of a return to pre-pandemic travel.
"Even if international travel does open up, say mid-next year, people probably aren't going to go anywhere until the following year," Ms Coburn said.
"I may have another two years before income starts to flow again. Goodness knows what's going to happen until then."
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