Ready to dive right back in
PREPARING FOR RETURN TO REEF AND FITZROYO
WE ARE ready for business, just open up the borders.
Sunlover Cruises general manager Greg Erwin has lent weight to urgent calls to relax border restrictions in Queensland and allow in domestic tourists to the region.
“Border reopening is critical,” Mr Erwin said.
“We need those open and planes giving us connectivity. We need those flights coming into Cairns from Melbourne and Sydney.”
He said flights into Cairns would mitigate the lack of selfdrive tourists from southern urban hubs such as Brisbane.
“We are a long way from the drive markets at the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast; we need those borders open for north Queensland to really come back online,” Mr Erwin said.
The call follows three new proposals to reignite the Cairns economy as the region wakes up from the coronavirus hibernation, including using the Far North as a shipbuilding hub and creating an international corridor for students to access Cairns.
“We could open tomorrow,” Mr Erwin said. “If there are visitors in town, we are ready, but we need the flights back in the air and those restrictions lifted.
“We need those visitors back in town so we can create the right product for them.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expected to decide tomorrow on the proposed north Queensland travel bubble reaching from the Far North south to Bundaberg.
“We are all in this together,” Mr Erwin said. “The difficulty moving forward is not how to hibernate, but how we recover and reopen.”
Sunlover staff and crew had been hard at work this week maintaining assets and readying for a return to business, something that would not have been possible without the JobKeeper program.
“JobKeeper is not without fault, but has been terrific.
“We have 54 in total who were on the program,” Mr Erwin said.
Those 54 staff were essential in keeping Sunlover’s vessels shipshape.
“There was considerable clean-up on the boats and semi subs; we have been using our JobKeeper crew to come out and make sure we are in good shape for when we return,” Mr Erwin said.
Sunlover is expected to start its Fitzroy Island operation to service the local market, although a start date is still uncertain.
Before the pandemic, Sunlover ran daily trips to Moore Reef, shuttles to Fitzroy Island and a charter operation to the Arlington Reef marine base.
Moore Reef is anticipated as a second step for the company, although it is likely the Arlington pontoon would remain in hibernation with the lack of international visitors.
“We think that Fitzroy is a fantastic option,” Mr Erwin said. “We would be looking at reintroducing Moore Reef once the borders are opened up. We are unsure about a date – everyone is, at the moment. We have to pivot and respond to these things.”