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The Gold Coast tourism industry is showing signs of recovery following the slump of COVID19 restrictions, with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk claiming bookings are back on track.
"My information is that Gold Coast bookings are basically the same as this time last year, which is great news for our small businesses - everyone who's involved in tourism and hospitality here on the Gold Coast," the Premier told a press conference in Burleigh Heads.
The update comes just days out from June 10 when Queensland will reopen to visitors from all states and territories except Victoria, as the "Queensland, You're Good to Go" tourism campaign enters stage two to market in the southern states.
"From today we'll be out in the market and encouraging all Australians except Victorians to come up to Queensland during the school holidays," said Minister for Tourism Industry Development, Kate Jones.
"Our target with this campaign is to get to $1 billion worth of value for Queensland businesses and the tourism industry in our state."
Around 93 per cent of Queenslanders over the age of 18 have been reached by the campaign so far.
"We know this is tough time for the tourism industry, but our "Good to Go" campaign has seen a record number of Queenslanders hitting the road and visiting wonderful places across our state," Jones said.
Following a request yesterday to the Federal Government yesterday from Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan to set a flight quota for international arrivals in Perth, Premier Palaszczuk has expressed her view that the number of international flights coming in ought to be slowed down.
"The international borders are the domain of the Federal Government - that is their decision about how many flights they allow in, but I think we need to be very cautious, and I think a slowing down of those flights would be a good thing at this stage," she said.
"Of course we're prepared to help out. We've taken a large number of international flights - they've gone directly into quarantine and we've had police at those quarantine hotels, and we've had no problems from quarantine hotels."
The Premier emphasised the continued importance of State and Federal Governments working together with a spirit of cooperation, and "backed" New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian in the decision to close her border to Victorians due to high levels of community transmission.
"We need to do everything we can to help Victoria," she added.
"It is a national issue. It's not just a state-based issue. It's a national issue because it impacts on all of us."
Updated at 11:20am AEST on 7 July 2020.
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