For the upcoming Easter holidays, Queensland tourism will lose $35m

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

For the upcoming Easter holidays, Australians are all set to travel to Queensland. They have been “cancelling their bookings hand over fist”, as airlines selected planned services in line with a jump in travel confidence activated by the state defined border restrictions.

The tourism sector of Queensland by the end of Easter is hoped to lose $35m due to the recent spike in community transmissions of Covid-19 and impacting travel, as per the forecast from Dean Long, the Accommodation Association of Australia’s chief executive, and Margy Osmond, the Tourism and Transport Forum’s chief executive.

Ahead of on Thursday when the first phase of the government-subsidized half-price flights will be going on sale, Dean Long and Osmond have warned confidence to travel to Queensland has plummeted out of fear from travelers they could have to enter hotel quarantine if border conditions are made tighter while they are vacationing. Four of the 13 destinations are located in Queensland, which are part of the $1.2bn tourism support package of the government.

The tourism bodies, who at first were condemned that the post-jobkeeper support of the government for the sector focused on aviation jobs, have again called for ongoing wage support for the industry as hopes of a “fantastic Easter” for Queensland are crushed. As Brisbane experienced a three-day lockdown, the industry hoped for stricter border conditions and restrictions in regard to virus transmission to impact travel as well as Queensland residents who had planned to travel interstate over Easter.

Qantas and Jetstar called off several flights in and out of Brisbane, a company spokeswoman on Tuesday had told the Guardian, as they united the passengers still keen on traveling onto the remaining flights they were operating to the city.

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