Premier’s warning as thousands flood Queensland to holiday in the sunshine state

Queensland is finally open - and while the state is ready to welcome back tens of thousands of tourists, the premier has issued one stark warning.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has issued a warning to the tens of thousands of Aussies hoping to get into Queensland before Christmas as the sunshine state’s hard border finally drops.

After 141 days of border bans, Queensland’s hard border with NSW and Victoria came down at 1am yesterday.

Police estimated up to 50,000 people entered the state from NSW and Victoria however things ran smoothly at Queensland’s road and air borders.

To enter Queensland from a designated hotspot, Aussies must test negative to coronavirus within 72 hours before entering the state, be fully vaccinated against Covid and complete an entry pass.

Visitors must also be tested on their fifth day in Queensland.

As Queensland prepares for the influx of visitors, Ms Palaszczuk issued a warning to the thousands of people planning to spend their summer holidays in Queensland.

“Tourists coming into the state who are not abiding by the rules would be putting the entire state at risk,” she told reporters yesterday.

“If they are not abiding by the rules, they are putting the whole state at risk, so people know very clearly there are heavy fines associated if you do not do the right thing.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Adam Head

The tourism industry in Queensland is already booming again, with recent data from Skyscanner, a flight aggregate site, revealing searches for Brisbane were up 509 per cent in the past week.

Skyscanner also experienced an immediate 22 per cent increase in visitors to the site, following the announcement Queensland was reopening its borders.

Queensland destinations are also going to be popular throughout the whole of summer with searches for the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns jumping 11 per cent, 91 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.

Ms Palaszczuk said tourism bookings were already huge following the state’s reopening announcement but she urged tourists to “do the right thing”.

“With a lot more people, we know that the virus is going to spread,” she said.

“It is really important that people coming into our state are checking in ... Queenslanders do this all the time.”

The state’s vaccination rate continues to surge, with more than 81 per cent of Queenslanders fully vaccinated and 88.3 per cent of Queenslanders over the age of 16 having received one dose of a Covid vaccine.

Queensland #COVID19 update 13 Dec

Today we have recorded 10 new cases of COVID-19.

1 case was locally acquired.

7 cases were interstate acquired and 2 cases were overseas acquired, all 9 were detected in hotel quarantine. pic.twitter.com/RfwcsGwghy

— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) December 13, 2021

While Ms Palaszczuk warned police would be on high alert for arrivals that were not doing the right thing, she did admit it was “physically impossible” for officers to check every person coming into the state and urged people to follow the Covid rules.

Queensland recorded four new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours - two from interstate arrivals, one arrival who was in the community and one case in hotel quarantine.

Chief health officer John Gerrard yesterday warned Queensland will definitely see an increasing number of incursions, including people unwittingly bringing the virus over.

“Up until now, because of the high vaccination rates, we’ve been seeing spot fires that have been brought under control,” Dr Gerrard said.

“As time goes by it is highly likely, it is inevitable that cases will increase. How many we see and when this will occur is still unclear.”