There is no doubt that Queensland tourism has been doing it tough since the double whammy of extensive flooding and then the devastation caused by Cyclone Yasi set it back on its heels.
But there is no doubt now that the state is fighting back … with that glorious tropical sunshine proving just too good to resist for shivering southerners.
At Port Douglas – where about 80 per cent of residents work in tourism or related businesses – local operators say the industry is bouncing back from its longest summer of sorrow.
In his first-quarter report, Tourism Port Douglas Daintree chairman Gordon Wellham said 135 businesses in the area had closed their doors during the past five years, including five since Christmas.
“The constant hits to tourism viability are wearing people down,” Mr Wellham said in the report. “It’s death by a thousand cuts.”
Apparently, occupancy rates at Port Douglas dropped to about 10 per cent in February, with some accommodation houses near empty for two months.
Mr Wellham says he is concerned that layoffs made during the downturn could dilute the pool of tourism expertise needed at Port Douglas as tourist numbers grow.
“This could also have consequential impacts on perceptions of quality and service and hence our long-term reputation,” the report states.
“It was a tough three months because people didn’t realise that we weren’t affected by the cyclone and the floods,” Port Douglas accommodation provider Carmel Angelino told Cairns Now. “But it’s picked up like you wouldn’t believe and I put it down to the weather.”
Indeed, Ms Angelino says the seaside town is thriving again with the onset of clear skies, and her forward bookings are now solid through to mid-October.
Another operator, Laura Unwin, said travellers from southern cities are heading for the warmth of the north in their usual large numbers.
“It’s a lot of people from Sydney and Melbourne who are making the calls and they all comment on how cold it is down there at the moment,” Ms Unwin said. “It was like a ghost town in Port Douglas at the start of the year, but the way it’s turned around in such a short time is amazing.”
And it all goes to prove … if the sun keeps shining, then we will keep coming!
