The Sunshine Coast is switching into holiday mode – with record flights and strong accommodation bookings – after the Premier declared Easter “good to go” and lifted Brisbane’s lockdown early.
The all-important drive market of holidaymakers from Brisbane are expected to hit the Bruce Highway after midday and begin the mad rush to the Coast for the first real Easter since the start of the pandemic.
Sunshine Coast Airport is also experiencing its busiest day on record with 20 flights coming in from across Australia.
Sunshine Coast Airport is expecting a 23 percent increase in flights across the Easter weekend compared to April 2019, and more than 80,600 seats – an increase of 11 percent on April 2019.
“We are very relieved that the Brisbane lockdown will be lifted from midday today and that community transmission cases have been kept to a minimum, as the Sunshine Coast’s largest market over the Easter long-weekend and school holiday periods traditionally comes from the Greater Brisbane area,” said Visit Sunshine Coast CEO Matt Stoeckel.
“Whilst many accommodation operators reported cancellations because of the uncertainty, fortunately, the majority of travellers from Brisbane (and interstate) maintained their bookings and can now keep their Easter plans and enjoy their vacation to the Sunshine Coast from midday today.
“Our marketing and promotional activities continue in market and will leverage off today’s launch of the half-price airfares scheme.
“Direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide are eligible for the 5 per cent discount, which will give the Sunshine Coast tourism sector a welcome boost over the winter season.”
Sunshine Coast Chamber Alliance CEO Wallis Westbrook said it was “such great news” to be welcoming visitors from Greater Brisbane who had helped sustain the Coast’s tourism sector during COVID.
“This is really good news for businesses, for all the people in tourism and all parts of our economy on the Coast and it is a great sign of the confidence in our community’s ability to manage the restrictions,” said Mr Westbrook.
Mr Westbrook said businesses were primed to provide excellent service and responsibly manage the ongoing restrictions which include wearing masks indoors, seating only at food and drink venues and no dancing.
“It’s 11 o’clock now; in one hour’s time I expect the highway will be full,” he said.
Airport welcomes record flights
Sunshine Coast Airport CEO Andrew Brodie said the record number of flights into the Sunshine Coast demonstrated a continued confidence in the region.
“Today is our busiest day ever with the Airport welcoming 20 flights,” Mr Brodie said.
“We have worked hard to bring back airlines and introduce new routes and additional services that provide passengers with greater flexibility and choice in where and when they want to travel.
“While there is no doubt that COVID has impacted many across the region, the continued growth of flights and passengers visiting our region shows there is still a desire by many to visit our beautiful region.
“The lifting of lockdown coupled with the 50 percent discount on flights, which also starts today, will certainly have a positive impact.
“Our hard work is paying off with the number of seats and flights this April and across the Easter period higher than they were pre-Covid in April 2019 – a bounce back better than most airports across Australia,” Mr Brodie said.
“We are expecting to see 23 per cent increase in the number of flights into the Sunshine Coast compared to 2019 across the Easter weekend and when you think about where we were 12 months ago with our terminal literally closing its doors – that’s a great achievement.
“This is a major boost to our region and local tourism operators who have been so impacted by COVID-19 as more flights means more visitors to our region and April 2021 will see 80,600 seats – more than an 11 percent increase on April 2019 (pre-COVID).
Earlier
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has declared the Easter holidays ‘good to go’ after only one new case of community-acquired coronavirus was detected and a record number of people came forward for testing.
Ms Palaszczuk said ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’ to Queenslanders as she also announced she would lift the lockdown early – from noon on Thursday – rather than waiting until 5pm, so families could begin their Easter break.
However, she asked all Queenslanders to continue carrying a mask with them for the next two weeks, until April 15, to be worn in indoor spaces where social distancing was not possible, such as supermarkets.
Other restrictions will remain around the state, such as the requirement for seating only in eating and drinking establishments, no dancing in venues and gathering limits of 30 in the home.
Ms Palaszczuk said the two conditions of the lockdown being lifted were low case numbers and high testing. More than 34,700 people were tested in the previous 24-hour period.
Dr Jeannette Young said the amount of testing in the past 48 hours had been “astronomical”, which had given her the confidence that a further lockdown was not needed to manage the two clusters.
There was only case of community acquired infection and nine cases in hotel quarantine.
Ms Palaszczuk urged Queenslanders to be careful on the roads as they began the Easter long weekend and not to rush.
The Sunshine Coast is hoping for a bumper holiday period with strong bookings.
Earlier
Sunshine Coast businesses are optimistic they will be able to capitalise on strong bookings for Easter if the Premier calls an end to Greater Brisbane’s three-day lockdown.
Annastacia Palaszczuk will hold a media briefing at 9am on Thursday at which the latest infection numbers and testing rates will be revealed.
It’s hoped that another day of low community acquired cases and high testing numbers will give the chief medical officer the confidence not to extend the lockdown into the Easter long weekend.
Visit Sunshine Coast CEO Matt Stoeckel said he was hopeful the restrictions would be lifted and the Easter break would kick off.
“We remain optimistic that people from Greater Brisbane will be able to come and enjoy the Sunshine Coast for Easter,” he said.
Mr Stoeckel said local operators had experienced some cancellations but most holidaymakers had adopted a “wait and see” approach.
If the lockdown was extended, Mr Stoeckel said Visit Sunshine Coast would “put in place any necessary measures or activities to respond to the situation”.
Tracey Harris, of the Caloundra Holiday Centre which manages about 150 apartments and houses, said there had been hardly any cancellations and most people were giving their Easter break every chance to become a reality.
Ms Harris, who is also a Caloundra Tourism committee member, said many were hoping the Brisbane lockdown would not be extended and they could check in after the 5pm deadline Thursday.
She said the centre was staying open late to accommodate this.
Caloundra, fortunately, also had a tradition of attracting holidaymakers from Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, which presently were unaffected by the Greater Brisbane COVID shutdown, Ms Harris said.
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Sunshine Coast Chamber Alliance chair Wallis Westbrook said businesses were nervous about losing bookings over what is usually one of their best times of the year.
But Mr Westbrook said people were also feeling encouraged that Australia was “building momentum” over time to no longer be held ransom to the coronavirus.
“Vaccinations have started and it’s all creating a sense of real confidence that we’re getting towards a situation where the coronavirus is not controlling as much of the business environment as it has the last 12 months,” said Mr Westbrook.
“Some people are nervous but looking beyond that and thinking ‘Okay, we’re heading in the right direction’ and it’s giving people a sense of confidence.”
Mr Westbrook said an extended lockdown would be devastating for some local businesses who would be relying on bumper takings this Easter.
“Businesses are worried about what it might look like (when the premier makes her announcement) but businesses are also looking forward.”
Mr Westbrook said the community had been adhering responsibly to the state government’s health directions which would help bring the outbreak under control.
Queensland recorded just two new cases after 33,408 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Wednesday.
One was a nurse from Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, who had received her first vaccine dose, and the other was her housemate.
Another case of community transmission linked to the Brisbane clusters was also reported in the NSW town of Byron Bay on Wednesday.
The two new cases in Queensland took the total number of community infections to 17, along with two COVID-19 patients who initially spread the virus to hospital workers.
Ms Palaszczuk said a decision on extending the Greater Brisbane lockdown, which is due to end at 5pm on Thursday, would be announced in the morning.
“The fact we do not have any unlinked community transmission in the south-east or in our state is absolutely encouraging,” she told reporters.
“Fingers crossed all will be looking good for Easter.
“If we see very good testing rates across Queensland and we don’t see any unlinked community transmission, the signs for Easter are looking positive.”
Infectious COVID-19 cases have visited venues in Greater Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Gladstone, Toowoomba, Hervey Bay and Gin Gin.
Most cases are now in Brisbane hospitals or in isolation, but there are two patients on the Gold Coast, and two in Hervey Bay and Toowoomba, respectively.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said 1700 people were self-quarantining and getting tested after possibly coming into contact with known cases.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath is also self-isolating after she woke up with a sore throat and flu-like symptoms and decided to get a COVID-19 test.
She lives in the Moreton Bay region, where a number of exposure sites are located.
“I immediately got a COVID test this morning and am isolating until I get a negative result,” Ms D’Ath posted on Twitter.
“This is the right thing to do. Everyone is reminded to get a COVID test if you have any symptoms, regardless of how mild.”
The number of exposure sites in Queensland jumped to 81 overnight with the NSW government issuing alerts for a number of venues in Byron Bay and Ballina.
Brisbane’s PA Hospital, where two nurses and a doctor have now tested positive, was locked down even harder on Tuesday night.
Queensland’s second-largest hospital started turning away all but the most critical patients on Wednesday morning.
Like all Brisbane hospitals, it had been turning away visitors since Friday.
The hospital is testing all staff who’ve worked in the COVID-19 ward since March 19, with all known virus cases linked to three staff who tested positive there.
Dr Young said the PA Hospital had made the right call to lock down the facility.
“We just had transmission in a hospital resulting in two separate clusters, and those two clusters have happened at the same time, which is a big risk to manage,” she said.
“So you would have seen that with the first cluster, I didn’t advise the premier that we needed to lock down, but as soon as we had a second cluster the numbers were just becoming too big to manage.”
-with AAP
