Motel missing out on area’s tourism boom

TOURISTS’ interest in Warwick has surged to more than twice its usual rate, but one motel owner says they are yet to profit from the spike in demand.

New data from travel giant Wotif revealed the Rose City as Queensland’s sixth most searched-for destination, beating more common tourist hot spots in the Southern Downs and Granite Belt areas.

Despite the increased attention and upcoming school holidays, Comfort Inn Warwick owner Peter Andrews said he was still relying on a busy weekend trade to keep the business going.

“The corporate business has stayed consistent from Monday to Friday, which has been good,” Mr Andrews said.

“The weekends have been filling up, there’s been 10 or 11 weekends in a row where we’ve been booked out, but we can’t report anything definite on school holidays.

“As far as school holiday bookings go, I’ve basically got none, but I have seen over this period that people are leaving it pretty late to make bookings, with uncertainty around restrictions.”

Centre Point Mid City Motor Inn owner Eddie Raets agreed, hoping ongoing motorsports events and last-minute spring bookings would pad profit margins to last through the quiet summer season.

“I’m not looking forward to the summer, it’s looking very sparse in forward bookings – if the borders are still closed, we won’t be getting much through-traffic either.

“At the moment, it’s a bit of a struggle, but not much we can do about it, except keep our fingers crossed.”