Cairns international flights: Tourism rush unlikely when borders fall

It may not be quite so easy as opening international borders and watching the cash rush into the Far North.

IT MAY not be quite so easy as opening international borders and watching the cash rush into the Far North.

Advance Cairns CEO Paul Sparshott has outlined a string of obstacles to international travel that point to the best bet being a renewed focus on domestic tourism.

He said expensive Covid-19 testing both in Australia and abroad, exhaustive paperwork and hours added to airport wait times would make domestic trips much more palatable to the average traveller.

The domestic terminal at the Cairns Airport. Picture: Brendan Radke

“What it means is that people will stay home and travel domestically for a while,” he said.

“When we do open up in the new year, we need to target those domestic markets.

“We will still have a slow period, because it’s hot and rainy, so we should really be planning for April and Easter to get this home.”

Gung-ho globetrotters and people desperate to see family abroad will still make the trip, but Mr Sparshott thought there would be more downtime before the Cairns Airport international terminal was pumping again.

Advance Cairns CEO Paul Sparshott. Picture: Brendan Radke

That left the door open for federal commitments to finally inject the $80m needed to pull the dilapidated terminal out of decades past, as well as $20m for direct aviation attraction support.

“I think there will be an initial rush but it’s just going to be so difficult,” Mr Sparshott said.

“But we do need to get to the international terminal quite quickly.”

Neither Labor nor the Coalition has yet made a commitment to the terminal upgrade.

Originally published as Cairns international flights: Tourism rush unlikely when borders fall