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Central Australia's tourism peak body has urged the NT government to relax bottle shop trading restrictions in Alice Springs in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the tourism industry.
In January 2023, the Northern Territory government forced the closure of Alice Springs bottle shops on Mondays and Tuesdays and limited trading hours from 3–7pm on other days, in response to a wave of alcohol-fuelled violence and crime.
Blanket alcohol bans were also reimposed on Aboriginal town camps and communities.
In a letter penned to Chief Minister Eva Lawler last week, obtained by the ABC, Tourism Central Australia (TCA) said it could no longer remain silent on the issue as some of its members reported declines of more than 50 per cent.
"One of our core [tenets] of the tourism industry is being open for business," TCA Chair Patrick Bedford wrote.
"Visitors quickly adapt and change their travelling patterns if they know they cannot access experiences or products.
"Our visitors as they travel to Alice Springs are looking to purchase necessary provisions — as they do in almost every other community in Australia. Whether we like it or not, alcohol is one such provision."
Mr Bedford proposed bottle shops opening for one additional day per week or remaining open every day during the peak tourist season between April and October.
Tourists need 'full offering'
The introduction of the restrictions resulted in an initial decrease in alcohol-related harm. However, 12 months on, progress on the issue remains an uphill battle.
Lasseters Hotel Casino chief executive Craig Jervis, who oversees a string of Alice Springs pubs, bottle shops and hotels, said businesses needed to be able to provide a "full offering" to tourists passing through the town.
"When you travel, [tourists want] to have a six-pack after a hard day of setting up your caravan or out visiting some of the amazing facilities we've got here," Mr Jervis said.
"It's not that people come just to drink, but it's part of the overall holiday mode and relaxation mode that people are involved with.
"We're shut from 8pm on a Sunday till 3pm on a Wednesday — that's a big chunk of a week for a traveller."
Mr Jervis said changing the restrictions would complement the large investment already going into Central Australia's tourism sector, including building the National Aboriginal Art Gallery and sealing the Mereenie Loop.
"There's hundreds of millions of dollars going into being a tourist town — we've got to make sure we're doing it and doing it well," he said.
'Tourists do not come here to drink'
His comments were in response to Central Australia Aboriginal Congress's chief executive, Donna Ah Chee, who has argued that "tourists do not come here to drink".
"That's an old argument that keeps coming up," she told the ABC earlier this month.
"We need to stop that sort of narrative.
"They want to come and experience a beautiful landscape, Aboriginal culture that is still thriving."
Ms Ah Chee also said data suggested there had been a decline in alcohol consumption in Alice Springs since the restrictions were brought in.
"The evidence shows that when you reduce consumption you reduce harm, and that evidence is across the world," she said.
"We just need to stop playing politics with this.
"I really hope that we don't see the removal of these regulations because, if we do, we will be on the front pages again."