Welcome to this fortnight’s edition of our Newsletter. “Queensland’s border to Southern states of Australia will be open from December 17th.” Such was the declaration by the Queensland Premier, Anastasia Palaszczuk, earlier this week! What does this mean for Cairns’ economy and its Real Estate market? Tourism aligned accommodation businesses and tourism operators supporting infrastructure businesses will be rejoicing about this positive news! With conditions implemented, Queensland will be welcoming people across Australia to holiday again or for the first time at their favourite or new holiday destinations. After a quick call around to a number of accommodation houses and tourism operators, each confirmed that indeed accommodation enquiry and bookings have escalated post-December 17th. A natural flow of increased patronage will occur to all the tour operation companies, restaurants, food outlets, and entertainment venues. It will likely be a ‘Merrier Christmas’ for many North Queensland residents. One of the largest tour booking companies for the region advised me they are currently down 82.19% on the 2019 level of business! Stoically the operator of that business stated, “You can only keep your chin up.” Further stating, “The loss of key and highly trained staff from the entire industry and the replacement and re-training of personnel will be the next chore we will face as demand for services increases.” As a result, North Queensland desperately requires more staff to fill roles in the tourism industry! |