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Queensland February 14, 2011 – John Lee, the chief executive of Tourism and Transport Forum said that every Australian has a responsibility to aid the state’s tourism recovery with so many jobs and businesses on the line. While Martin Ferguson, the federal Tourism Minister has called Queensland a huge perception problem at home and overseas in which the state is out of action.

Spending holiday in Queensland could be forgiven as an absurd proposition if anyone has seen news footage of Dunk Island’s resort battered and swamped by tons of sand and the mangled mess of boats at Port Hinchinbrook.
Cancelled bookings, leaving hotels, daytrip operators and other businesses in dire circumstances are expected by tourism operators across a vast envelope of the state from north of Cairns south to the Whitsundays.

Kim Marsden, the owner of Cairns-based travstar.com bookings and tourism information service despairs at the scale of cancellations in places that escaped Yasi’s fury which also includes Cairns and beaches to its north and Port Douglas and the Daintree. People complained about how devastating the region was and so they cancelled their holidays in there.
An initial of $10 million have been put up already by the state and federal governments to get the word out quickly. Felicia Mariani, the Managing Director of Australian Tourism Export Council stated that that money could mean the difference between life and death for many businesses. The operators outside the cyclone disaster zone that didn’t sustain physical damage are not eligible for direct governance assistance. It’s the reason why many of them are really struggling to get their businesses back. The goal now is for consumers to see visually that Queensland is back and open for business before responding to any tactical offers or specials to come to Queensland.

This fallout won’t be too long to live as the tourism industry has shown its steadiness through other crises and sure would again.

source:
smh.com.au