Townsville Enterprise is urging local businesses – particularly Townsville North Queensland tourism and hospitality operators – to share their story of economic loss and hardship in a new release business impact survey.
The survey – released by the Queensland Government – is the official mechanism to trigger financial business support and packages, and broader regional destination support.
As the region turns its attention to recovery, Townsville Enterprise continues to support the business community through a range of tactics to encourage return travel to the region.
CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith said we’re pleased to see the region getting back to business after a challenging six weeks after both Cyclone Jasper and Cyclone Kirrily, but we know there is a long road ahead to build confidence in the industry, and in our visitor market.
“While we know the region experienced some minor infrastructure damage, the real impact has been felt financially,” Ms. Brumme-Smith said.
“The latest economic data suggests that for the city’s closure on Thursday 25 January, the Townsville North Queensland economy experienced over $24.1M in lost wages in that one day from Cyclone Kirrily. We know this is only part of the story – with many businesses forced to close for longer periods."
"Despite businesses starting to reopen, some within the industry are reporting forward bookings as low as 3% compared to the same period last year in the lead up to Easter, this is the information we need to capture and feed back to Government through this business impact survey.”
CBar Managing Director Allan Pike emphasises the importance of participation in the survey.
"We need all hospitality business to fill out the survey, we need the opportunity to access funding for the loss we have all suffered and give everybody that chance to rebuild their revenue back up to sustainable levels.”
“We are seeing one of the worst starts to a new year in long time. We have staff not getting hours to work, some casuals not even getting work; we need visitors to know we are open for business, book their holidays to stay here and eat here in Townsville,” Mr. Pike said.
Businesses are encouraged to complete the survey, as soon as possible > https://bit.ly/TCKirrily-BusinessImpactSurvey
While broader business data is captured, Townsville Enterprise continues to focus on recovery, and has created a dedicated landing page with Open for Business information to share with visitors from near and far.
“Townsville Enterprise is working on tactics to encourage return travel to the region, and we’re calling on local tourism, entertainment and hospitality businesses to register their reopening date and special offers via townsvilleenterprise.com.au,” Ms. Brumme-Smith.
“As our tourism and hospitality industry start to reopen their doors following Cyclone Kirrily we are asking our locals to support these businesses. This is an industry that supports more than 7,000 jobs locally and right now they need support.”
“While you’re out exploring our backyard, make sure you share your experience on social media by using the hashtag #townsvillenorthqueensland; this is the easiest way to show the world Townsville North Queensland is indeed open for business.”
Local tour operator Stephanie Hinks - owner and manager of Aquascene Magnetic Island is happy to welcome back visitor and locals to Magnetic Island with a special “Fun Under $100” offer on our multi-award-winning Discovery Tour.
“We know the last week has been a very difficult time, but we want everyone to know that the skies are blue, the sun is shining and adventures such as ours are available to do, and we are ready to go on Magnetic Island,” Ms Hinks said.
Register your business open https://www.townsvilleenterprise.com.au/advocacy-pecp8f/north-queensland-open-for-business/
Start planning your Townsville North Queensland staycation or holiday https://www.townsvillenorthqueensland.com.au/
Have your say: complete the business impact survey https://customervoice.microsoft.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=sAmvAfH7kUOR8Gqe1zGoJSYS69qqnthFtoLvF5YLuApUMkhTVE5ZU1FYMzZXRzZINVpWUlNCWkxPVC4u
