The Premier’s announcement of 17 December as the date for the reopening of Queensland’s borders is welcome news. It will give confidence to consumers and a compelling reason for the community to be vaccinated.
The onus is now on the community to get the borders to reopen and restart the region’s $3.5 billion visitor economy.
Our community needs to be aware that once the State reaches the 80% vaccination rate, communities with vaccination rates below 80% will be subject to lockdowns. The Federal Government will no longer provide financial assistance once the State reaches 80%.
Visitors will need to be double vaccinated and have a negative PCR test within 72 hours of travel and this will create a hurdle that will slow the rate of growth.
Our region’s recovery, and the thousands of jobs hanging in the balance, are in the hands of our community – so please get vaccinated and help us to avoid lockdowns. Going into lockdown while the rest of Australia is open will delay the destination’s recovery by months putting us behind the rest of Australia and the world and will impact thousands of jobs in our community.
The roadmap announcement comes as extensive summer marketing gets underway with the launch of Tourism and Events Queensland’s Great Queensland Getaway campaign this week offering heavily discounted flights, accommodation and tourism experiences.
Strongly supported in Tropical North Queensland with 142 of our operators registering deals, the $8 million Great Queensland Getaway includes up to 50% off tourism experiences, $75 Brisbane to Cairns airfares, and discounted bus passes.
One of TEQ’s largest-ever campaigns, it comes as access from Southeast Queensland is increasing with Virgin Australia launching new permanent flights from the Gold Coast to Cairns from December.
The timing supports TTNQ’s Summer Great campaign which launched this month to boost visitor numbers. ‘Summer Great. Leave Greater’, TTNQ’s first summer campaign, which was launched last year, generated more than $20 million in retail sales over five months.
Summer presents an opportunity for our region’s operators to pick up some much needed business after the disappointing loss of our key markets during what should have been a busy winter season.
The campaign will continue to grow awareness and consideration for summer in the tropics within the domestic market with activity including TV/Video on Demand, YouTube, editorial, digital, social, influencer and media educationals.
Cheers
Mark Olsen
Chief Executive Officer