Coronavirus: Closed Queensland faces a $2bn tourism hit

Queensland faces a tourism revenue hit of $786m for every month it keeps its borders shut, as the Premier faces increasing pressure to ease travel restrictions.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Brisbane on Wednesday. Picture: AAP

Queensland faces a tourism revenue hit of $769m for every month it keeps its borders shut, as Annastacia Palaszczuk faces increasing pressure to ease travel restrictions before the July school holidays.

As Scott Morrison called on state governments to justify border closures, The Australian can reveal Queensland was on track to lose more than $2bn in interstate travel spending if it kept borders shut until September.

New figures show Queensland is more exposed than NSW and Victoria, with interstate visitors making up 47.4 per cent of its domestic market, sparking calls from tourism operators for the state government to reopen borders within weeks.

In his strongest rebuke on state border closures, the Prime Minister on Wednesday said the expert medical advice “never recommended internal borders”.

“It’s not good for the economy, particularly as we go into this next school holiday season. Those tourism businesses need that support,” Mr Morrison said. “So those individual states, they’ll have to justify those decisions themselves because it wasn’t something that came out of national cabinet.

“We don’t have any medical expert advice that has come through the national process which recommended that and so that’s why premiers here are making those calls based on whatever advice that they’ve taken and they would need to be transparent about that.”

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham, who spoke with struggling north Queensland tourism operators on Wednesday, said the risk to the Queensland tourism sector was greater than other states. “In Queensland, more jobs as a share of the economy and more businesses as a share of the economy depend on tourism than any other mainland state,” Senator Birmingham told The Australian.

“Tourism businesses currently have no choice and no access to international visitors, and if we also leave them with no access to interstate visitors, then they’re going to be bleeding in terms of viability and job losses for a long time.”

Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen said the region was facing a $10m-a-day hit to the local economy and pleaded for Ms Palaszczuk to “seriously consider the potential of interstate travel for the school holidays”. “When the mercury drops in the southern capitals, the phones in Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef usually ring off the hook,” Mr Olsen told The ­Australian. “This year, the phone calls are mostly cancellations, based on the uncertainty of travel restrictions continuing into the school holidays. Without overnight stays, and the prospect of a 250km travel limit, our region will lose $10m a day.”

The Queensland tourism industry is urging the state government to consider the resumption of interstate travel, and potentially New Zealand visitors, by July.

 

Senator Birmingham said that if Ms Palaszczuk showed leadership and eased border restrictions, he would “sing her praises from the rooftops”.

The Queensland government will hold a COVID-19 monthly review meeting on Sunday to consider easing social restrictions but has indicated it is unlikely to budge on border closures.

Ms Palaszczuk has come under intense criticism after last week flagging Queensland borders may not reopen until September, conflicting with the national cabinet’s COVID-19 roadmap to unlock ­social restrictions.

The Queensland Premier this week said the Sunday meeting would consider allowing full intrastate travel and increasing the 20-person limit allowed in pubs, clubs and cafes from June 12.

Queensland, which has recorded 1058 coronavirus cases with 1044 people recovered, registered its seventh COVID-19-related death on Tuesday.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese backed Mr Morrison’s call to begin easing border restrictions, which were imposing major “economic costs”.

“I don’t want to see any restrictions there for one day more than is necessary. People have got to take health advice. But I do want to see an opening up of all the restrictions as soon as practicable,” Mr Albanese said.

Labor MP Anne Aly said “we need to maintain our border closures for now until it is safe to do so”, backing WA Premier Mark McGowan’s tough stance on travel restrictions.