Fraser Coast accommodation, whale watch operators push back SEQ guests

The south-east Queensland lockdown has had a “huge impact” on Fraser Coast businesses. The timing, combined with less-than-truthful escapees, is making things worse as operators battle to protect their staff.

They battled through a socially-distanced season last year but this time, the combination of the SEQ lockdown and less-than-truthful escapees is making things worse.

Along with a massive drop in bookings from locked out visitors, local events like the Hervey Bay Whale Festival and Seafood Festival have been cancelled with suppliers not only because suppliers and ticketholders couldn’t make it but because the number of southerners escaping hot spots at the weekend led tourism chiefs to decide holding a mass gathering of any kind would be too dangers.

With whale season traditionally the best months for businesses in the hospitality and tourism industries on the Fraser Coast, the locking down of the drive market is particularly tough.

Whalesong Cruises Hervey Bay Manager Rebecca Greenshields is urging locals to help out, as businesses suffer immense loses due to the most recent SEQ lockdown.

Whalesong Cruises Hervey Bay Manager Rebecca Greenshields told the Chronicle her business has been impacted “pretty severely”.

“We‘ve gone down (about) 50 per cent every day since Saturday (when the lockdown for SEQ was announced),” she said.

Whalesong Cruises Hervey Bay is usually having a ‘whale’ of a time during the months of July and August.

With “most” of Whalesong’s bookings coming from south east locals, Ms Greenshields said only 30 per cent of those who called to amend their booking rescheduled.

The other 70 per cent were refunded after they cancelled their bookings entirely.

“We got to the point where on our Monday – we had a lot of people who were coming up on the weekend and were cruising with us on Monday – because of all the cancellations and postponements, we ended up having to just cancel the cruise completely,” Ms Greenshields said.

And it’s a triple whammy for Boat Club Whale Watch & Adventure Cruises Manager Tony Bonello, who runs a caravan park, whale watching boats and a licensed premise.

“There‘s been significant dropping in bookings from all our departments, which obviously then reflects on the food and beverage of our licensed premise,” Mr Bonello told the Chronicle.

“They sort of flow together, with our whale watching then our food and beverage sales go up or decrease accordingly.

“We're obviously not holding anyone to any cancellation policies or anything like that … (we’ve) just got to be flexible … it certainly is having a massive impact.”

The Bay Apartments are even offering a 20 per cent discount available until Sunday, August 8, to hopefully bring in more business.

The “major market” has left hotels and short-stay apartment complex businesses also struggling.

The Bay Apartments Manager Kim Schmidt told the Chronicle she lost 95 per cent of forward-bookings after the SEQ lockdown.

“There’s been a lot of refunds … At this stage we are fully booked for next weekend but all those guests are from south east Queensland lockdown areas, so if it gets extended, we will lose 100 per cent of our bookings,” Ms Schmidt said.

The Bay Apartments Manager Kim Schmidt

Some guests coming from SEQ “definitely tried” to rush across the lockdown zone before restrictions went into place, but Ms Schmidt said she “pushed them away.”

It comes after Fraser Coast Tourism and Events Chief Executive Officer Martin Simon expressed his fears about the number of SEQ lockdown escapees who headed north on the Bruce Highway ahead of the Saturday deadline

“We are not going to accept bookings from (those in) lockdown areas because not only is it detrimental to our local area, I need to look after my staff as well,” Ms Schmidt said.

“That would lock us all down and that would lock all our other businesses down as well … we're not prepared to take that risk … my worst fear is getting a (Covid) case up here.

“Some have been a little bit abusive (to us when we refuse their booking), we think some have tried to lie to us, too, so we're being very careful in what bookings we will take.”