Gold Coast hotels fear $6b wipeout

Standing in the middle of the deserted Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort Gold Coast, the hotel's marketing director, Nick Clarke, says he has "not heard any rational argument as to why the Queensland border should not open by July school holidays".

Delaying that move until September 1 will wipe out the Gold Coast's $6 billion tourism trade and kill thousands more jobs, he warned, as federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham reiterated that states that unnecessarily "hold out" on reopening will need to "provide additional support" to their decimated tourism industries.

"We're in a state of disbelief," said Clarke, a Queensland hotel veteran of more than a decade. "The Gold Coast is one of the nation's most popular tourism destinations, and we are haemorrhaging. Locking out domestic travellers until September is like putting a noose around the city's neck. If you cut off the hand that feeds us, we're done for."

The Northern Territory is considering opening its borders sooner rather than later, putting Queensland under renewed pressure, along with Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia.

"If the successful suppression of COVID-19 continues, then the states should be relaxing their border controls," Senator Birmingham told The Australian Financial Review on Monday.

"If one or two states were to hold out then they will be answerable to their tourism industry and will ultimately need to provide additional support to that industry."

Call to extend the bridge

Travel and tourism stocks jumped yesterday on the back of optimism the sector could get moving again, plus anticipation the federal government will provide prolonged financial support to the hard-hit industry.

Simon McGrath, head of Accor Hotels in Australia, said the federal government should extend JobKeeper to the hospitality industry until the Christmas school holidays, when he predicts the sector will begin to get back on its feet in a meaningful way.

"I'd like to see a bridge from September to December for the sector, which is a major employer nationwide," said Mr McGrath, who has stood down half of Accor's 21,000 workers in Australia, where 70 of the group's 380 hotels are closed and the rest are operating on single digit occupancy rates.

"We're going to need JobKeeper to get us from September to the Christmas holidays, when we'll be hoping to see better conditions and a sustainable booking pace."

Despite the remaining hurdles to getting the nation travelling again, Webjet closed up 15.56 per cent on $4.16, while Flight Centre was also up just over 15 per cent on $13.01. Qantas closed up 7.22 per cent on $3.86 and even Sydney Airport was up 3.86 per cent to $5.92.

"This is an incredibly resilient sector," Mr McGrath said. "It's been decimated, but we are resilient and we are fighting to get firmly back on the road to recovery."

Trent Fraser, chief executive of Choice Hotels Asia-Pacific, agreed that "a soft landing to the JobKeeper program is imperative". Choice Hotels operate budget brands such as Quality Inn, Clarion and Econolodge.

Based in Melbourne, Mr Fraser has been pushing for hard borders to fall: “It’s pleasing to see the light at the end of the tunnel with restrictions easing across the country," he said.

"It’s important to remember that a lot of accommodation, particularly across regional Australia are small businesses, and they have been hit hard. State premiers need to open the state borders now, so that the industry can get back on its feet, and people can get back to work."

Like many in the sector, Luxury Escapes CEO Cameron Holland believes "Australians are craving an escape – and the travel industry is desperate for clarity and a national consensus on how to take action".