THE current lockdown conditions are creating a critical situation for many tourism operators in Victoria, industry organisations claim.

The Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) said the State Government must look at a significant change to the structure of its current business support programs and the continued extensions of lockdown “signals a new low for the state’s visitor economy businesses and employees”.

VTIC chief executive, Felicia Mariani, said the industry was preparing a survival plan designed to help save a sector that had contributed over $32 billion to the state’s economic position and employed over 260,000 at the start of 2020.