SYDNEY NEW YEAR EVE FIREWORKS BRING IN 2020 BUT THE WORLD IS WATCHING and TOURISM TAKES A HIT!
Despite calls from many to cancel the fireworks yesterday in the face of continuing Bushfire Disasters around Australia, the Festivities went ahead,..and the result was not all bad!
The NSW Government figures and Lord Mayor Clover Moore held firm in the face of increasing demands and incredulity on the part of responsible Sydney citizens who were calling for a cancellation of the fireworks,.claiming this will once again send the wrong signal to the world.
The Sydney Lord Mayor and other Business Leaders pointed out the display generated $130m for the NSW economy.
Sydney reached a high of 38C on New Year’s Eve, with 44C degrees in the far west in Penrith and Western Sydney, before a Southerly change and storm blew into Sydney around 6 pm and the temperature then dropped to the low twenties!
Critics say NSW and Australian Tourism will begin to Suffer a Significant Decline in Inbound Tourism as Viewers and potential Tourists from all over the world see Australia literally burning before their eyes,…Already many of the main highways and roads along the NSW Coast e.g. beyond Nowra on the South Coast,..are closed, because of continuing out of control bushfires!
Sydney Tourism is already taking a big hit with many Domestic Travellers and Overseas VISTORS/tourists now avoiding Sydney and deferring or changing their plans to visit Australia,….in the event Sydney Harbour and the CBD are once again engulfed in acrid smoke which could reduce visibility to 20 meters as happened a few weeks ago., this will further exacerbate the effect on tourism.
This could well be the foreseeable,.. not unlikely scenario,..if the prevailing winds move the smokey haze down from the uncontrolled Blue Mountains (Gospers Mountain blazes have already burnt through 3 million hectares),..or from one of the Coastal fires!
“Currently we have the embarrassment of the whole world looking on to Sydney Harbour at this critical time when our commitment to Climate change and the ensuing disaster,..is being challenged all over the world……Australian government Leaders have been extremely naive and oblivious to the effect this is all having overseas,… from a country that is a leading exporter of coal to china but doesn’t want to that doesn’t want to take climate change seriously..or acknowledge its part in global warming.”
Weather conditions across much of NSW will continue to deteriorate in the coming week, with bushfire danger reaching its peak during the first week of January,..as the high temperatures return..
The federal government, meanwhile, has announced RFS volunteers battling long-running blazes could receive up to $6000 in financial support with payments of up to $300 per day will be available to Rural Fire Service NSW volunteers who are self-employed or work for small and medium businesses.
The temperature will continue to rise across NSW as the new year draws closer, with bushfire danger reaching its peak on 2019’s final day.
After medium high temperatures caused NSW to sweat on Saturday, conditions around the state are expected to further deteriorate on Sunday.
Total fire bans have been declared in the southern and central ranges, while 11 NSW regions and the ACT will be under “very high” fire danger.