Cashed-up cockroaches coming, and we can’t wait New South welcome

Bartender and waiter Ben Wright from C Bar on The Strand, ahead of further COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. Picture: MATT TAYLOR

BRACE yourselves, Townsville, the cockroaches are coming. There’s good news though; they’ll be bringing cash with them.

Queensland will open its borders to NSW on November 1, provided there’s no unlinked cases in the next 28 days.

For local venues like C Bar, the news makes for double delight after restrictions on outdoor venues were eased from one person every 4sq m to one person every 2sq m on Thursday.

“It’s super exciting news for us,” supervisor Anya Epplett said.

“Since Thursday we haven’t had to turn people away, but before that we were turning away a lot.

“We’re looking forward visitors coming here.”

Townsville Enterprise CEO Patricia O’callaghan said it was welcome news for the community, particularly hospitality and tourism businesses, that unseated drinking and eating have come back.

“The feedback we’ve been passing onto government is that customer experience is just as important as attractto more ing customers,” Ms O’callaghan said. “Mingling and networking is a major component of customer experience and this is a positive step to reintroducing that important social aspect the tourism and hospitality sector thrives upon.”

She said the borders reopening to NSW was an important step in the road to recovery. “This road map is something that, collectively, Townsville Enterprise, Townsville Chamber of Commerce and our hospitality community have been strongly advocating for, and we acknowledge the Premier and Chief Health Officer who heeded these calls.

“Borders reopening to broader NSW is an important step leading up to Christmas to attract visitation to the region, particularly from the friends and relatives market.

“We know there is appetite from southerners keen to break the shackles of restrictions within their own state and what better way to celebrate than visiting North Queensland, which as well as a tropical island offers the clean air of the reef, rainforest and outback within a 90-minute radius.”