Gold Coast business leaders say latest border closure is another blow to the city’s tourism operators

Queensland has shut the border to Adelaide after its spike in coronavirus cases, rendering the biggest tourism campaign the Gold Coast has ever ran pointless.

QUEENSLAND has shut the border to Adelaide after its spike in coronavirus cases, rendering the biggest tourism campaign the Gold Coast has ever ran pointless.

Destination Gold Coast launched its $3.5 million Come Back and Play campaign in late October to target South Australia, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, regional Queensland and Brisbane.

On Monday, just three weeks into the mammoth eight-week promotion, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Queensland would close to new hotspot Adelaide from 11.59pm. It effectively blocks more than 1.3 million potential visitors – and halts streams of desperately needed tourism dollars from filtering into the city.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Patrick Woods.

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Travellers arriving from Adelaide after the cut-off will be forced to go into two weeks hotel quarantine.

The new ruling applies to anyone who has been in Adelaide since Monday last week.

Queensland was one of four states to restrict Adelaide visitors after COVID-19 cases spiked from three to 17 overnight Sunday. NSW did not implement a blockade.

Authorities are rushing to contact about 7000 people who entered Queensland from Adelaide since last Monday. They will be asked to get tested and isolate.

Strict lockdowns have already been implemented in SA in a bid to prevent another Melbourne-like outbreak, including shutting gyms, pubs and restaurants being limited to 10 customers, while people are being urged to work from home and limit visitors.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the outbreak posed a concern to Queensland, pointing to the large number of flights that had arrived from Adelaide.

“The last thing we want to see is Queenslanders having to go into any form of lockdown,” she said.

“But this cluster outbreak is of concern.”

The arrivals board at Gold Coast Airport last night painted a grim picture of the pandemic impact – at 5.40pm it listed just one flight to come.

Passengers arrive off the flight from Adelaide into the Gold Coast before the border closes to South Australia from midnight. Picture: Scott Powick.

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It was the final flight from Adelaide hours before it was blocked as a new hotspot. Normally at 5.40pm the Arrivals board would be full and spilling into a second screen, leaving Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills to say the virus constantly felt like “one step forward, two steps back”.

“We’re now in November and I’ve been seeing that screen like that since April. It’s the same as walking through the carpark to a handful of cars – you get a bit numb after a while.”

Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills. Picture: Scott Powick.

Pre-pandemic the airport was doing 60 flights in a day but now averaged three to nine.

Mr Mills said better signs were ahead with new flights from Perth and Hobart scheduled from December 1.

Destination Gold Coast chairman Paul Donovan was devastated by Monday morning’s sudden announcement and spoke of a “rollercoaster of emotions”.

“This year will go down as the worst – just awful,” he said. “I just got figures for the weekend occupancy across hotels, which I’ve got to say was fantastic.

“So I was feeling very enthusiastic and then I got the news about the border being shut (to Adelaide).

“We’ve invested as Destination Gold Coast a lot of money in this South Australian market promoting the Gold Coast. We’ll have to reinstitute that when we get it open again.

“We now have to readjust the advertising because there’s no point going and advertising the Gold Coast (in Adelaide) if you have to do two weeks quarantine when you get here.”

Gold Coast Tourism Chairman Paul Donovan. Picture: Scott Fletcher.

Mr Donovan did not question the medical advice to close the border from Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young, but bemoaned “this bloody horrible disease, this virus”.

“I’m not questioning the decision, the medical grounds, but what I’m saying is this just further disappoints everyone,” he said.

“We’re getting closer to the busiest period we have and you have this sort of thing. When people hear, there’s a lack of confidence from the punters who were going to book.”

Asked how much tourism funding had been directed at South Australia, Mr Donovan said it was “significant”, but “commercial in confidence”.

“It’s not money down the drain, but it’s put us back.”

Mr Donovan said the surprise closure would put a strain on airports and airlines.

The last Adelaide flight to Gold Coast Airport at Bilinga touched down at 5.55pm Monday with mostly Gold Coasters returning.

Health worker Mark Baruksopulo and his wife Melyssa said they were happy to be home after spending the weekend visiting wineries in the Barossa Valley.

Mark Baruksopulo and wife Melyssa Baruksopulo arrived on the last flight from Adelaide before Queensland closes its borders to South Australia. Picture: Scott Powick.

“We actually just booked a weekend away, I’m a health worker and I wanted a little break,” Mr Baruksopulo said.

“We were scheduled to come back tonight, it was a full flight, I think they got a lot of last minute tickets sold. When we got to the airport we had the COVID test … it wasn’t mandatory but everyone I saw was choosing to get it done.”

General Practitioners Gold Coast president Dr Katrina McLean said of the closure to Adelaide: “I absolutely support a precautionary approach. It’s challenging and understandably frustrating for many but Queensland has done so well in keeping our community safe and this is another measure to help protect what we have gained.”

NSW travellers have been packing out towns in the north of the state, including Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, to avoid lingering in Queensland quarantine hotels.

Queensland had no new cases overnight Sunday and on Monday the state had eight cases active cases.

Originally published as Gold Coast business leaders say latest border closure is another blow to the city’s tourism operators