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The Grollo Group has announced the Ross River Resort will be closed to the general public from October 1 due to crime in the region causing a downturn in business and rising costs.
The picturesque tourist destination 84 kilometres east of Alice Springs will still host functions, group events and festivals.
In a letter to Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson and Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, representatives of the resort cited an "alarming rise" in youth crime.
"These challenges have escalated to the point where they are not only severely affecting the quality of life for local residents but are also having a detrimental impact on local businesses and the tourism sector."
Grollo Group co-director Martin Ansell said the resort was not directly affected by crime in Alice Springs but a downturn in visitors to the region ultimately affected numbers visiting Ross River.
"General tourism would have dropped off 50 to 60 per from the previous year," he said.
Mr Ansell said a number of factors merged into the "perfect storm" and the business had to "stop the bleeding to survive".
"It's costing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to keep it [the resort] maintained," he said.
Ross River Resort will closed to the general public from October 1. (ABC Alice Springs: Xavier Martin)
Job losses
Mr Ansell called on the local and Northern Territory governments to "take decisive steps to restore the safety and stability to our town".
"The time to act is now before livelihoods are lost," he said.
Mr Ansell said he was looking forward to engaging and having that conversation with the Northern Territory government.
"Our ideas are open, we love Ross River — it's quite a special little place out there and in a beautiful part of the world," he said.
The closure will result in job losses for about five staff members, with efforts being made to retain key personnel for future events.
Grollo Group's Martin Ansell says a core group of staff will be kept on at the resort. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Erin Somerville)
Mr Ansell said conferences, events and music festivals could still be held at the site if there were enough people.
"There will be a minimum number of [around 30]," he said.
"We've got some good managers there that are happy to stay on to maintain the asset and make sure that we're keeping everything compliant and ready to go."
'Just another loss'
Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said the decision was heartbreaking for the region.
"This is just continuing that downward trend for our destination," he said.
Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford say the industry is facing immeasurable challenges. (Supplied: Danial Rochford)
"The challenges that we've had to have faced as a region and as an industry have been immeasurable.
"This is just another sad reality of the fragility of the tourism industry here in Alice Springs."
Mr Rochford said visitor numbers to the region were down.
"That's reflective across the many operators that we have in the membership of Tourism Central Australia," he said.
"This is just another loss of another piece of tourism and part of our industry.