The NSW Mid North Coast is a favourite holiday destination every Easter; this year, flood-affected tourism operators in the region are counting on it.
Following a wet summer, and two major flooding events in just over a month, many are counting the financial cost of lost business.
"For us it's been devastating. We're so far behind it's not funny," said Coffs Harbour's Jetty Dive owner Mark Davey.
The business has had to cancel a record number of snorkelling and scuba trips this year due to rain, heavy seas and, more recently, the devastating floods.
"The last week has actually been quite serious," Mr Davey said.
"But the whole summer period from the end of January has been the worst summer we've had.
Along with the Northern Rivers, parts of the Mid North Coast experienced major flooding events twice in March.
Communities along the Clarence, Orara, Bellinger, Nambucca and Macleay rivers have been the worst hit with some towns isolated for days by floodwaters and residents placed under evacuation orders and warnings.
Operators like Mr Davey are now pinning their hopes on better conditions for the Easter holidays, and tourists still visiting.
"At this stage Easter is not looking that great," Mr Davey said.
"Forward bookings at the moment are quite low."
'We can see the light'
The Coffs Harbour City Council said the recent weather had had a major impact on some tourism operators.
Ashley Sambrooks, acting section leader for industry and destination development, said while marine tourism operators like Mr Davey had been hit hard, caravan park bookings remained strong.
"In comparison to a lot of our regional neighbours, we can see the light."
Travellers 'fearful'
In Urunga, just south of Coffs Harbour, Riverside Holiday Resort operator Rebecca Beaton hopes the school holidays will make up for the cancellations they received during recent weather events.
"It's been a hard couple of weeks with the amount of rain that we've had," she said.
Some properties in the town, south of Coffs Harbour, were under an evacuation order last week.
Ms Beaton said she had many cancellations due to customer concerns about rain, roads and emergency warnings.
Despite the cancellations of the past weeks, the resort remains almost completely booked for the school holidays.
"From Saturday, April 9, I'm pretty confident that everybody is well and truly over the rain and they all need a holiday."
Holiday-maker Peter Neeskens was one of many tourists forced to pack up and abandon their holidays in the recent flood event.
Mr Neeskens had been staying at a Urunga caravan park when an evacuation order was issued last week.
"It was a bit stressful, [we] didn't really know what was going on," he said.
"We … had to put everything away pretty quickly."
Following the evacuation, Mr Neeskens and his family decided to cut their holiday short and make the journey home to Airlie Beach in Queensland.
Local operators hope tourists forced to abandon their plans will visit again in the future.
