While welcoming the measure as a step in the right direction, businesses remain frustrated that the border will remain closed and the numbers allowed into venues is still far short of the 50 allowed in NSW.

We asked ten prominent community members what they thought. Here is what they told us.

Arthur De Snoo (Surfers Paradise beach cafe and bar)

“20 people is not going to go a long way for us, we’ll only be running at 30 per cent of our capacity.

“It’s a good start and a step in the right direction, is it going to make us profitable, no.

“That’s the reality.

“The important thing is to get people in the hotels for Surfer Paradise.”

Pat Gennari (Broadbeach hospitality king with Koi, Loose Moose, Roosevelt)

“20 people is not going to do it, we need 50 or 100 people for this to work.

“She is holding us back, it’s ridiculous, we need to get going.

“I’m having a meeting with our staff tomorrow to see how we’re travelling.”

Erfan Jalilian (Owner Shiraz Persian restaurant, Surfers Paradise)

“I’m happy that we are doing this a little bit earlier, this was planned for mid-June.

“I’m hoping it means the next stage will be brought forward too.

“Every weekend I’m having to let down a lot of customers and turn down a lot of customers.

“I’m losing them to next door restaurants, it’s been very stressful, especially on weekends.

“Doubling it to 20 will be helpful but the sooner we get to the next stage the better.”

Scott Imlach (Small bar king plus restaurant bars Hideaway, Bine)

“I think she could have given us more notice, if she knew on Tuesday then tell us then.

“It’s not just letting in 20 people, it’s putting on more staff, organising more menus, changing the booking system, there’s a big line of things that have to be changed.

“We’ve had to call a meeting with all our staff tomorrow to reprogram where we’re going.

“I think we could be doing 50 easily to be honest, following New South Wales.

“20 isn’t really viable, where 50 is, it’ll be a whole new ball game.

“The lifting of travel restrictions will help but we need the borders opened, it’s almost the school holidays.

“People from Victoria and New South Wales will want to come up here but won’t be able to.”

Brett James (Southport Yacht Club GM)

“We’re able to have 20 people in each area of the club, which is a lot better than just 20 people in the whole club.

“It’s definitely a positive, anything to get more people in the venue is a good thing.

“We get a lot of traffic from Brisbane, and Brisbane is a big key area for tourism on the Gold Coast so it’ll be good for them to be able to come back.

“I’ve got friends up in Bundaberg and they won’t to come down but they can’t. This will open the flood gates for them to come down too.”

David Crisafulli (Member for Broadwater)

“I just want to see (the Premier) stick to the original plan of a July opening for the border. That’s my hard and fast request, just to stick with what she promised she would do.

“The whole thing businesses were focused on was a July reopening of the borders and that would enable the increased local patronage to make it worthwhile for them.

“Do I welcome (yesterday’s announcement)? Absolutely I do, and I want to see them stick to their word of a July border opening so we can get back to work as a city.”

Martin Hall (Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce President)

“It’s not far enough in regards to allowing more people into the premises (because) businesses can be COVID safe.

“Opening up (inter-Queensland) travel was a good move and it’s something we pushed for last week.

“I think it needs to be gradual. The size of the premises needs to be taken into consideration, you’ve got venues that can hold thousands and they’re only allowed to have 20 people in when it’s possible to have more and be safe.

“It needs to be in context, I think perhaps a percentage of the capacity rather than a set number.

“We definitely need to reconsider the (border closure) particularly with another month now until they’ll be looked at again. It would have been nice to have had them open by the end of school holidays but 100 per cent we need the borders open.”

Neil Fisher (Owner of Main Beach restaurant Domani’s)

“I think (20 people) is better than it was yesterday. It will help but it’s better to know more in advance, I mean telling you it’s going to happen tomorrow? You’ve got rostering to do, that’s the criticism I have of it. But it’s good news.”

Annaliese Battista (CEO, Destination Gold Coast)

“The sector welcomes the sense of hope at potentially having restrictions lifted faster. The unequivocal position of the industry is that the recovery will start in earnest when the borders open, once it is safe to do so.”

John-Paul Langbroek (Member for Surfers Paradise)

“You can’t fix stupid. It’s just obvious (it’s not far enough), last night Broadbeach was in darkness, today Surfers is empty, with businesses suffering and people despairing about their future.

“We’ve killed the curve, and Annastacia Palaszczuk and Labor for whatever reason don’t care about the Gold Coast and tourism, anywhere where there’s tourism that requires interstate travel.

“It’s obvious the borders should be opened, we’ve had the Chief Medical Officer saying there’s no medical reason for them to be closed for weeks.”

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