YouGov poll shows 57 per cent of Queenslanders will holiday in state

With Queenslanders ready to shake-off COVID-19 isolation by holidaying in their home state, tourism operators have called on the State Government to let the rest of the nation in.

QUEENSLANDERS are ready to shake-off COVID-19 isolation by holidaying in their home state, with nearly three in five people likely to take a break here by the end of the year.

Exclusive polling conducted for The Courier-Mail reveals more than half of Queenslanders are likely to book a Sunshine State break over the next six months.

About a third of people rated it “very likely” a Queensland holiday was on the cards.

Overall, 57 per cent of people say it is likely they will holiday somewhere in Queensland during 2020 compared to 35 per cent of people unlikely to book a holiday, the YouGov poll of more than 1000 Queenslanders last week reveals. Eight per cent of people polled were undecided.

The results give hope to tourism operators reeling from having their bottom lines decimated by COVID-19 travel restrictions that shut the industry in March.

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Almost three in five Queenslanders plan to holiday in their home state over the next six months.

But it has also triggered fresh calls for the Palaszczuk Government to capitalise on the domestic tourism reawakening by making a firm commitment to lifting border restrictions in coming weeks.

Tourism operators say the lifting of travel bans within Queensland on June 1 had not led to an instantaneous boom in bookings and there was a case to bring forward opening up the border.

The Government in May set down July 10 as the date border restrictions would end, but that depends on an assessment at the end of the month as to the state’s success in fighting COVID-19.

Comments by the state’s Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young in late May flagging a September border reopening as a more “realistic scenario” has sent shockwaves through the tourism sector.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive officer Daniel Gschwind said the polling results gave hope for struggling operators.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive officer Daniel Gschwind says the state needs to be open to rest of the country. Picture: Attila Csaszar

But he said the low number of new COVID-19 cases nationally left no reason for a delay in re-opening the border on July 10 as planned, if not earlier.

“(The polling) instils a sense of optimism in the industry but what it also says to me is, if the potential is there nationally, then Queensland has to be in the game, and that means we have to have a clear path to easing restrictions now in a timely manner,” he said.

“We do not want to be last out of the gates as a state in tapping into this opportunity.”

Sailaway Port Douglas eco-tourism operator Steve Edmondson said there was currently “no flood of people” and no uptake in bookings for the usually busy winter months of July and August.

He blamed “erratic” decision making by the State Government as to when restrictions would ease for creating uncertainty and putting people off booking flights.

“Until those borders are open it’s just impossible to have any level of confidence,” he said.

Destination Gold Coast has called for a “decisive road map” for the sector, which it said was in survival mode after racking up financial losses estimated at $310 million a month.

“The prospect of Queensland’s borders remaining closed has caused confusion for the tourism sector, which had been preparing and hoping for a July reopening,” chief executive officer Annaliese Battista said.