Holding a 'virtual' round-table discussion with tourism stakeholders is a priority for a Warrnambool City Council candidate who says people are still concerned about safety in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Andrew Squires, who works at the city's hospital, said making sure Warrnambool was prepared for an influx of tourists was high on his list of priorities if he was elected to council.
Mr Squires said while campaigning for the council elections, many people had raised concerns that the city was not prepared for the influx of tourists and visitors when the holiday season was relaunched.
He said that as a healthcare services professional fully educated in COVID-19 preparedness, he also had concerns if the city opened up to tourism too quickly without the appropriate systems in place, it might see a cluster formed within the Warrnambool district.
He said the world had changed, perhaps forever, and the pandemic had turned everybody's lives upside down.
"But one thing is for sure, once the quarantine is over, once we leave our homes, we should learn to live with the virus, adapting and changing our habits," he said.
"The time has come to think and organise our future. We know that coronavirus has already had, and will also have, important economic consequences and tourism is one of the sectors most affected by this crisis."
However, he said something needed to be done before the city opened the gates for business, and he suggested a roundtable discussion with stakeholders online was a good place to start.
"The operators of tourism accommodations require collected ideas to start again, to find a point of mediation between work, the desire to go on vacation and the need for safety," he said.
He said the council needed to ensure operators had a complete COVID-19 plan in place that ensured the continued safety of all visitors, staff and community.
"The community needs to be aware and prepared that the increased population during the holiday season could bring the spread of COVID-19," he said.
"Warrnambool City Council needs to ensure everyone is prepared for the influx of visitors, ensuring that all stakeholders are prepared with the involvement of policies, training, equipment and further resources. Having visitors returning is a welcoming thought to bringing back economically a better Warrnambool, but we need to ensure we are actually prepared."
