SMILES RETURN AS BORDER OPENS
GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has applauded the reopening of the border to Greater Sydney as “tactical marketing” continues to attract domestic tourists.
Cr Tate and Destination Gold Coast chair Paul Donovan said there was a prime opportunity to draw Sydneysiders and reel them back for repeat holidays with international trips ruled out.
But Queensland Airports Limited chief executive Chris Mills warned some people would be put off travelling due to erratic border closures.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Thursday that Queensland’s border would reopen to all of New South Wales from February 1.
The announcement blindsided NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who was informed live on radio.
Cr Tate said it was “a great day for the Gold Coast and our small business operators”.
“Brilliant news and let’s hope this is the start of a post-COVID tourism rebound, given how important Greater Sydney is to all of Queensland,” he said. “We are a resilient city and our recent accommodation bookings have been around 70 per cent occupancy. That is definitely down on traditional Christmas-New Year periods which have exceeded 85 per cent-plus.
“That said, we are on an upwards trend so let’s ensure we stay that way.”
Cr Tate said Destination Gold Coast was undertaking “tactical marketing” across the country to secure more domestic holiday-makers.
He said the council was “finalising some signature events for 2021” and he was “quietly confident that we will see a resurgence of Aussies falling in love with the Goldie all over again”.
Mr Donovan said the reopening would make a “hell of a difference”.
“There was something like five million Australians who went overseas in 2019 for leisure and holidays,” he said.
“There’s pent-up demand so we need to make sure we keep the borders open, we keep everyone safe and the Gold Coast will be the first choice for everyone, for new and repeat visitation.”
Tallebudgera Creek Tourist Park manager Adrian Easdown said phones were “ringing off the hook”.
“The less restrictions the better. It’s great for us, we’re quite heartened,” he said. “It takes away the uncertainty. Not everyone is across what the rules are, they’re always changing, so less restrictions and taking that uncertainty away for our guests is welcome.
“It’s just been a long slog, closing and opening, all the decisions that are made. We were pretty much empty for a couple of months.”
Mr Easdown said the park was “looking a little bit quiet”, but that would soon change.
Mr Mills was cautiously optimistic, but warned travel confidence would be impacted until there were “clear and reasonable rules in place for management of COVID-19 hot spots”.
“We anticipate flight and passenger numbers will increase in February,” he said.
“But we are aware that consumer sentiment has been impacted by previous closures which have occurred with little notice. There continues to be a need for a consistent national framework to be established to manage travel restrictions and hot spot definitions.”