Holidays to Australia ‘will continue despite the bushfires’

The recent bushfires seen in Victoria will not impact upon holidays to Australia, tourism officials have said.

The recent bushfires seen in Victoria will not impact upon holidays to Australia, tourism officials have said.

Although the blazes were the worst the country has ever seen, Claire Golding, Tourism Victoria’s regional manager for the UK and Europe, reassured tourists that they were mostly in the Yarra Valley, Gippsland and the High Country areas, all of which are at least an hour-and-a-half from Melbourne.

She also said that flights to Melbourne and people’s holidays will continue as normal.

“This was a terrible thing to happen but, from a tourism perspective, it does not affect most places that British travellers would visit,” Ms Golding said.

Some 200 people are known to have died since the fires began last weekend, but the toll is likely to rise as emergency services reach areas that were cut off by the flames.

Earlier this month, Dubai-based carrier Emirates announced that it is to introduce new flights to Melbourne and Brisbane with immediate effect.