Star Entertainment chairman John O’Neill says coronavirus ban ‘the right thing’
The man who helped organise a Rugby World Cup at the height of the SARS epidemic has played down the impact of coranavirus on Australian casinos.
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THE man in charge of organising the 2003 Rugby World Cup during the height of the SARS epidemic has played down the impact of the coronavirus on some of Australia’s biggest casinos.
Star Entertainment chairman John O’Neill AO said he couldn’t say whether it would impact construction of the $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf development in Brisbane.
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“Nobody has a crystal ball,” Mr O’Neill said. “We’ve got to take all the best available information … and make daily and weekly assessments of what impact might emerge.”
But he praised the decision to impose a travel ban on China as the right decision.
“The ban was sensible,” Mr O’Neill said.
“For a business like ours, if the ban hadn’t occurred and visitation from China had continued into our properties, the scrutiny levels and the cost and the attentiveness would’ve been extreme.”
Mr O’Neill said the travel ban had a 25 per cent impact on foot traffic at Star’s Sydney casino for a couple of weekends, but then rebounded.
“The reason it returned is because people realised the ban was in place, so it was okay to visit our properties,” he said.
“The same thing has happened on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane.”
The former head of Australian Rugby Union also said domestic visitors to Star’s locations, which he claimed made up 90 per cent of Star’s business, was still holding up despite the number of so-called high-rollers falling away.
“If people are cancelling overseas trips … then there’s enormous opportunities to holiday domestically,” Mr O’Neil said.
The well-known figure in Australian sport said this wasn’t his first time at the wheel during an epidemic, saying the SARS virus had also threatened the success of the Rugby World Cup.
“I was running Australian Rugby Union in 2003,” he said.
“The bookings dropped away (due to SARS).”
He said 80,000 to 100,000 international visitors still came to the event after the virus’ threat passed.
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