Flight Centre boss predicts Qld premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to open borders to NSW in weeks

One of the country’s leading tourism figures has made a bold prediction about the status of Queensland’s closed borders.

Queensland’s borders could open to NSW within weeks, according to one of the country’s leading tourism figures.

Flight Centre boss Graham Turner said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would be left with no other choice but to open up as other Australian jurisdictions start to ease their border controls.

“I’m pretty sure that the borders – the NSW border with Queensland will open within the next three or four weeks. I don’t know that for sure. But it seems logical,” he told the Today show on Friday morning.

“The only thing that will stop it I believe is a serious outbreak in NSW somewhere.

“There’s got to be a good reason. If there’s a very good reason, safety, health, but I think that’s done and dusted now. That’s over. So I think pragmatism will reign and I’m pretty confident the borders will open because I don’t think there is any choice.”

Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner says it’s time for Queensland borders to open to NSW. Picture: Liam Kidston

Mr Turner said the tourism industry was “suffering”, particularly on the Gold Coast and in North Queensland.

“They do all right at the weekends, you know, from the Brisbane traffic, but during the week, it is absolutely dead,” he said.

“Everyone’s suffering. Travel, tourism, airline, airports, it’s a bit of a disaster.”

Mr Turner hoped by March his business would be back to “some level of normality”.

“International will take a little bit longer. But it’s just JobKeeper has been pretty generous, probably too generous in some cases. You know, businesses like ours or airports and airlines, if we get the domestic travel back full-on, we will get back to a break-even situation with a little bit of luck. I think most of the major airlines, Virgin and Qantas, and the airports, will feel the same way.”