Adventure tourism partnership MotoX and Good Blokes Australia ceases trading

A Queensland tour company offering off-road bike treks across the Simpson Desert has gone bust, owing customers an estimated $130,000.

A tour business offering off-road bike treks across the Simpson Desert has gone bust due to COVID-19, owing customers an estimated $130,000.

Queensland-based MotoX, which operated a business called Outback Adventure Treks in partnership with another company GoodBlokes Australia, ceased trading earlier this month after COVID-19 restricted travel across state borders.

Worrells partner Michael Beck, who is handling the winding up of both Outback Adventure and Good Blokes, said business started in 2018 offering tours from Airlie Beach to Broome.

“During COVID many areas the tours traversed, including remote Aboriginal communities, were closed off due to government restrictions,” said Mr Beck.

He said the business held customer deposits of approximately $130,000, but it was not known if any of these amounts would be refunded.

A creditors’ meeting will be held on March 4 in Rockhampton to discuss the winding up of both MotoX and Good Blokes Australia.

The business, (run as a partnership between MotoX or Good Blokes), offered rides to the “most remote parts of the earth”, claimed to be the first motorcycle tour operation to get a permit to cross the Simpson Desert.

It offered treks across the Simpson, Great Victoria, Gibson and Little Sandy deserts including stops at the Birdsville Pub, Uluru and the top of the biggest sand dune in Australia.

Australia’s tourism industry, which was already impacted by the previous year’s summer bushfires, has been one of the hardest hit industries by the pandemic.

According to a KPMG report, restrictions on domestic and international air travel, as well as domestic border closures, the ‘ring of steel’ that separated regional Victoria from Melbourne and the recent outbreaks in Sydney and Brisbane had resulted in a significant decline in business and leisure travel in 2020.

Originally published as Adventure tourism partnership MotoX and Good Blokes Australia ceases trading