The North Queensland tourism and hospitality industry has welcomed the State Government’s decision today to ease travel and gathering restrictions within Queensland.
- Queensland reopens for intrastate travel
- Unlimited travel and stays within Queensland approved by Premier today
- Premier praised for striking the right balance in managing health crisis, and economic recovery
- Stage 2 of recovery roadmap expedited, effective from midday tomorrow (1 June)
- Dining in or seated drinks in restaurants , cafes, pubs, registered or licensed clubs, RSLs, hotels and casinos (no gaming) for up to 20 patrons per defined area (indoor or outdoor)
Townsville Enterprise and the four Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) partners representing the Cairns, Whitsundays, Mackay, and Outback regions submitted a proposal to Premier Palaszczuk last week to fast track the reopening of the tourism and hospitality industry.
This proposal was off the back of our submission on the 3rd April advocating for a faster, regionally-based reopening strategy reflecting North Queensland’s progress on the health crisis.
The new restrictions will see an easing of the non-essential travel boundary throughout Queensland and increases to the gathering allowances up to 20pax (per area of dining venues) effective midday tomorrow (1 June).
This announcement will support the 37,400 direct jobs within North Queensland that rely on the tourism and hospitality industry, bringing much-needed confidence back to these businesses.
From the Chief Executive Officer... 
We are delighted by the announcement and commend the Premier's sensible decision to expand the travel bubble right across Queensland.
The Queensland Government and the Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young have struck a good balance between ensuring Queensland's safety during the pandemic and now providing Queenslanders the opportunity to travel within the state.
The Premier was prepared to listen to regional Queensland and she has shown with this decision that she understands the challenges faced by our business community, but also the opportunity to boost business and jobs, especially in time for the upcoming school holidays.
We’d also like to acknowledge the number of public and private sector voices who backed the #reopen campaign; without the collaboration and support of the entire industry we would not have seen this conversation come to light for many days or weeks, and at the moment, every day counts.
Patricia O'Callaghan
Chief Executive Officer
Townsville Enterprise
