Business leaders say end of lockdown ‘won’t save Gold Coast from disaster’

The lifting of the lockdown on the Gold Coast won’t save the Glitter Strip from school holiday disaster, local business leaders say, unless they see an uptick in local support.

A Gold Coast business leader has welcomed the lifting of the lockdown on the Glitter Strip but says the school holidays will still be a disaster for tourism operators and traders.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Friday that the three-day lockdown of southeast Queensland and parts of North Queensland would be lifted at 6pm for all but the Brisbane and Moreton local government areas.

Dark clouds over the Gold Coast skyline. Picture: Scott Powick

The lockdown, coupled with mass holiday cancellations from Sydneysiders caught up in their city’s Covid crisis, is estimated to have cost the Coast tens of millions of dollars and forced the cancellation of this weekend’s Gold Coast Marathon.

Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president Hilary Jacobs said while locals and remaining tourists would hit the town this weekend, it would not make up for the huge financial losses.

A near-deserted Surfers Paradise.

“We’re happy the lockdown is being lifted but we’d be a lot happier if it hadn’t happened in the first place,” she said.

“Holiday bookings were already massively impacted and the lockdown only made things worse, particularly as you now need a border pass to travel in both directions.

“Many would-be visitors to the Gold Coast have already made alternative arrangements.”

Ms Jacobs said the Coast was locked down on the basis of an unexplained Covid exposure site at Broadbeach.

“The problem we’ve got with it is that there’s no road map – it’s a travelogue of where we’ve been, not where we’re going,’ she said.

“We don’t know where we’re headed.”

Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president Hilary Jacobs. Picture: Scott Fletcher

Ms Jacobs said business needed the certainty of a ‘proper road map’ out of the pandemic based on vaccination levels.

“At the moment, it’s a stroll-out rather than a rollout,” she said.

“We need some clear guidelines around what the (vaccination) targets are.”

Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said lockdowns were ‘killing people’.

“Mental health of business operators and workers on the Coast is a major concern at the moment – it’s terrible,” he said.

Gold Coast Combined Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Richard Gosling

“The school holidays are a write-off. All we’re seeing from this government is political sabre rattling and neglect of small business. It’s disgusting.”

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said lockdowns were devastating for business and consumer confidence.

“We are still calculating the economic loss but it will run into the tens of millions of dollars,” he said.

“Worse, it impacts the confidence of domestic travellers who are reluctant to book in case they get stuck here or have to scramble to return home.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Jerad Williams

“There has to be a better way and in my opinion, that ‘way’ is to get as many Australians vaccinated as quickly as possible.

“You can’t fight a war without bullets and I urge both levels of government to get on top of both the supply of vaccination and its distribution.’’

Mayor Tate urged locals and tourists to “get out in droves’’ and support our local businesses when the lockdown ends to help salvage what remains of the school holidays.

“The word is out: our lockdown ends at 6pm today. I urge every Gold Coaster and our much-loved tourists to get out and about, shop, dine and play locally,’’ he said.

“We have at least a week left of the school holidays and the weather is about to clear so please support the mum-and-dad businesses right across our city.’’

Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said while local tourism operators were relieved the city was reopening after a ‘nerve-wracking’ wait, key visitor market Brisbane remained locked down.

“To those in Brisbane that are waiting another 24 hours (for the lockdown to potentially end) we’re thinking of you, our hearts are with you but importantly, we want you to know that we will be waiting for you,” she said.

Ms O’Callaghan said the Coast had been looking forward to a ‘bumper’ school holidays but many bookings had disappeared.

She said there plenty of vacant rooms and ‘great deals’ on offer, and urged locals to book a ‘staycation’ to support local businesses in the second week of the holidays.

“This is an industry that’s been on an absolute roller coaster the last 18 months,” she said.