Tourism operators on South Australia's River Murray say they are suffering from a "flood hangover" after the state government's voucher program fell short of a full revival.
After being barred from the river for five months, houseboat operator Rob Hughes is trying to bounce back after he missed out on the entirety of the Christmas season.
"It's probably never a good time, but if you had to pick the worst time, that was definitely the worst time," the owner of River Murray Houseboats said.
Houseboat operators were forced to moor their fleets in November, as flows down the River Murray reached their highest level in more than 60 years.
Mr Hughes said while there were promising signs visitors were returning to the region, business was quieter than normal.
"The bookings are coming in for September, but unfortunately it's a little quiet at the moment," Mr Hughes said.
"We've just got to watch our spending and treat things a little bit tougher than we have before."
Mr Hughes said the uncertainty of the floods meant that people were not able to plan their trips in advance.
"Six months ago, if you were thinking about your holiday for the year, the river wasn't an option so you just didn't know," he said.
"There was a bit of uncertainty, so I've got no doubt we will bounce back – it's just going to take a bit more time."
In May, the South Australian Tourism Commission told a parliamentary committee that less than 40 per cent of the 12,000 vouchers handed out to revive tourism in the region had been redeemed.
The commission said that it expected at least 60 per cent of the first round of vouchers, which included $50 for an experience and $100 for accommodation, would have been used by that point.
Owner of Riverland Canoe Adventures, Kym Werner said the vouchers had so far not made much of a difference to his business.
"For us, we only had two from the last round, which was way down on the great state vouchers," Mr Werner said.
"When people look at making a trip, accommodation, everything else — $50 (for experiences) seems pretty small."
Mr Werner said that most of his canoe tours at the moment were with school students, but believed things would start to balance out soon.
"Autumn was definitely quieter than normal, and I don't exactly know why, but maybe some people think it wasn't the place to be," he said.
State MP Tim Whetstone represents the Riverland and Mallee regions and said that tourism operators were feeling the "financial pinch".
"Tourism operators are really hurting," the Member for Chaffey said.
"They're feeling the financial pinch because there is that lag between now and when people are going to make those bookings."
The first round of vouchers, which were won in a ballot, allowed holders to make bookings up to the end of June.
"We need to keep those tourism operators alive, not just on life support," Mr Whetstone said.
"We could use the voucher program as a deposit, or we could utilise any of that unspent voucher money as a promotional program."
In a statement, Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison said that any vouchers not redeemed during the first round would be reinvested into future rounds.
"We made a commitment that $3.5 million will be spent on flood-affected areas and we will continue to consult with industry to ensure that we achieve what's needed," Ms Bettison said.
Rob Hughes said he hoped the next round of vouchers, dedicated to houseboat bookings, would be more successful when the ballot opens next month.
Owner of the historic Overland Corner Hotel, Brad Flowers said it was disappointing that other businesses like his were not included in the taxpayer funded voucher scheme.
"Christmas up in the Riverland accounts for six months of your trade, so having that sort of taken away from you following the pandemic was tough," the publican said.
"A lot of the butcher shops, bakeries, newsagents, clothes shops and a lot of family-run businesses weren't able to access that or take part in it — so that was a little bit of a shame."
The historic Overland Corner was evacuated by the State Emergency Service in December after its levee, which was built in the seventies, started to give way.
But the levee managed to hold on, avoiding a similar fate it faced in 1956.
Mr Flowers said the recovery process had been slow and believed that the region could be suffering from a "flood hangover".
"It's a bit of a flood hangover," Mr Flowers said.
"A lot of people coming in say they're expecting to see mud, devastation and businesses closed.
"It's more about getting that message out there that I sort of challenge anyone to come up and even know that there was a flood."
He said his hopes were high for a busy and uninterrupted Christmas season this year.
"It's about sticking together, so we will do this as a community and get through it," he said.
