Brisbane lockdown impact ‘will last longer’ say travel bosses

Just as Queensland’s travel sector was showing signs of getting back on its feet, Brisbane’s new snap-lockdown hit, a move some say will cost the state billions.

Queensland’s sudden Brisbane lockdown has put many travel plans in doubt. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Just as Queensland’s travel sector was showing signs of getting back on its feet, assisted by airlines offering half-price fares and deals, Brisbane’s new snap-lockdown has hit confidence.

As Western Australia imposed border closures and other states imposed travel restrictions ahead of the Easter long weekend, one high-flying travel agent describing it as “sheer lunacy”.

Before the announcement of the three-day greater Brisbane lockdown, Flight Centre co-founder Graham Turner said domestic travel had been starting to recover, and New Zealand looked like it was about to open up.

Businesses shutting down early after Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a three-day lockdown for the Greater Brisbane area. Picture: Getty Images

“Locking Brisbane down will have a short-range three-day ­effect, it will cost $1bn-$2bn, but the impact will last longer, and just as domestic travel was coming back,” Mr Turner told said.

“There is one word that can describe it, it is sheer lunacy.”

He said state governments as well as the New Zealand government had locked down borders six times previously.

“And it has achieved nothing. There is no evidence it has achieved anything,” he said. “I can’t imagine the [Queensland] Premier wanting to do it because of the huge economic impact. We are talking billions of dollars here for a three-day lockdown.

“This is hard to believe.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s announcement of a greater Brisbane lockdown and related travel restrictions announced by some other states contributed to turbulent trading in the sharemarket to start the week.

 

In a familiar pattern since the COVID-19 crisis began over a year ago, travel companies were directly in the firing line of the state government’s announcement of a three-day lockdown of Brisbane from 5pm on Monday and onerous quarantine requirements imposed by most states.

It was also a down day for the broader sharemarket, with the benchmark S & P/ASX 200 falling 0.4 per cent to 6799.5 points as US futures tumbled amid worries about a big US hedge fund.

But having surged in recent months as investors expected COVID-19 vaccinations to put an end to travel restrictions, travel stocks fared worse than the market following the latest move by Queensland after two new cases of the highly infectious UK variant of the virus were detected.

Flight Centre closed down 3 per cent at $17.95, Webjet down 2.8 per cent at $5.57 and Qantas ended down 0.8 per cent at $1.445, but Sydney Airport rose 0.5 per cent to $5.99.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young. Picture: John Gass

“Queensland are right up there with Victoria … as handling this crisis so poorly, as opposed to NSW that has done a brilliant job and saved so many businesses and jobs and also government debt via the smarter and less panicky way they did it,” Bell Potter head of institutional sales and trading Richard Coppleson said.

Brisbane-based Corporate Travel Management chief executive Jamie Pherous said what was really important was a vaccine strategy.

“There’s been a bit of apathy that has crept into the community because there’s been no coronavirus,” Mr Pherous said.

“We understand that many people who are applicable for a vaccine have not bothered. That apathy can extend to opening and closing borders.

“I am calling on the state and federal government to get very aggressive with the marketing and rollout of the vaccine.

“This opening and closing of state borders forever is not sustainable.”