Footy holiday flop
MOST retailers will close their doors this Friday for the footy grand final public holiday, many labelling the idea ridiculous.
However the holiday could have limited appeal to some businesses, especially to cafe, hotel and restaurant owners in holiday places like Inverloch with many expected to abandon Melbourne in favour of a long weekend.
This coming Friday will see businesses forced to make tough decisions as to whether or not they will stay open for the first grand final eve public holiday.
The highly speculated public holiday was announced by the State Government earlier this year and is anticipated to result in a loss of over $500 million in revenue for the state.
Prom Country tourism officer Christine Legg said businesses have varied in response to the news.
“On one hand accommodation providers have been receiving bookings for the holiday. On the other there are business owners, mainly in retail, who are concerned about how they will handle the public holiday,” Ms Legg said.
One such business which has chosen to shut up shop is Connell’s Bakery in Wonthaggi and Bass.
Business owner Dee Connell said the closure of the two bakeries is estimated to result in a loss of $9500.
“We have to factor in paying penalty rates for eight people for front of shop, four bakers and then delivery drivers. With such a big loss of income it is just better to give everybody the day off,” Ms Connell said.
“I am not opposed to public holidays, nor am I opposed to paying penalty rates. My employees deserve to be paid fairly for their hard work.”
“I do however think it is a bad call by the government to make grand final eve a public holiday. It is not the right situation for it. It is not like Christmas or Easter when it is a busier time of year for businesses here.”
MLA Danny O’Brien echoed concerns for local businesses struggling to cover the costs of an extra public holiday.
“Whether you’re operating your own or managing a small business, this public holiday is going to be a costly affair,” Mr O’Brien said.
“If the government is interested at all in supporting business, particularly small business, and creating jobs, it isn’t showing it through these holidays.”
The introduction of the grand final eve holiday along with Easter Sunday will see Victoria hold the highest number of public holidays at 13 annual holidays, above the national average of 12.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Sep 29 2015. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
