Hotels fear vacancies

Closed borders threaten jobs

A HOTEL group has warned of empty hotels across the Far North and a reduced capacity to bounce back from COVID-19 this summer if border security is not assured.

The Australian Trade and Investment Commission predicts 21,000 hotel rooms across the state will be empty this summer if tourists miss a booking window ahead of the Christmas/New Year holiday period.

International hotel giant Accor – which operates 20 big hotels in Cairns and Port Douglas including the Novotel, Mantra and Pullman establishments – has asked the State Government to take job-saving action and open borders.

Accor Group chief operating officer Simon McGrath said Port Douglas’s economy would be compromised if interstate visitors were not able to book ahead with confidence.

“The pace of bookings for Port Douglas is starting to slow down and this has a significant implication for local business owners. Giving certainty on safely reopening borders is critical,”

Mr McGrath said. “Now is when people are booking visits for the next three to six months and if they don’t have certainty that Queensland will be open, then Queensland will miss the surge in travel and fall behind other states.”

Pullman Reef Hotel Casino chief executive Wayne Reynolds said current border lockouts were not “crippling but certainly rather than being able to run we are limping very slowly”.

However, putting the property forward as a quarantine hotel was not an option.

“Will it be beneficial short term to the region with increased flights (but) Cairns is perceived as a safe COVID free destination?” he said.

“Will the potential be undermined if we become a quarantine hub and damage future bookings to a greater extent than the quarantine business brings?

“I’m not sure anyone can confidently answer that question and it is very subjective to the individual business situation.”

On Thursday borders open to fly in Canberra travellers and from October 1 borders would open to five regional NSW local government areas but the rest of the state will stay locked out.