Bed Bugs Costing Australian Tourism Zillions of Bucks

The Australian tourism industry is losing an estimated $100 million a year due to bed bugs outbreaks. Media reports since 2004 to date indicate there is little hard data on how to recognize, quantify and eradicate the extent of the problem in Australia. The Australian tourism industry lost millions in income from accommodation revenue.

The Queensland Tourism Industry Council is scheduled to hold a bed bug summit to discuss the problem.

“Accommodation operators in the tropical northern state are losing money by closing rooms to treat bed bug outbreaks,” said Dean Cooper, chairman of Backpacking Queensland. “It can be a minimum of two or three days that you´ll have a room out of action, a couple of hundred of dollars for that particular room, and then you have possible re-infestation problems down the track.”

The Institute for Clinical Pathology & Medical Research at Sydney´s Westmead Hospital has reported pest controllers confirming more than 1,000 percent rise in bed bug outbreaks.

“It is part of the epidemic of bed bugs as a result of changing pest control measures and a rise in travelers visiting exotic locations,” said Stephen Doggett, the institute´s medial entomologist. “Pest control in the past usually involved insect sprays, which also killed bed bugs, but new environmentally-friendly practices have no effect on bed bugs.”

In efforts to “debug” Australia, a recent forum on the problem came out with three major proposals: recognition of the problem, its financial implications, and research into methods of management and control.

Currently, there is no pesticide in the market which can treat bed bugs. Many of the low-toxic chemicals used in pest control are not registered for bed bug control.

Despite of the problem´s impact on the tourism industry, there is still no state or federal funding programs in place.