A warning today about a downturn in the tourist dollar across the Granite Belt and Darling Downs because of this week’s Covid lockdowns.
Dr Sarah Gardiner – Griffith University
12-million Australians were placed into isolation this week due to multiple covid outbreaks in Queensland, Sydney, Perth and Darwin.
Doctor Sarah Gardiner is the Director of Griffith University’s Tourism Studies.
She says the lockdowns will cause a wave of cancellations and impact local tourism.
“There’s no doubt this will have quite a prolific effect across the region”
While the immediate effect won’t be known just yet, Doctor Gardiner says it’s a long term cost for local tourism.
“The medium cost is the cancellations, but the long term cost (will be) in terms of travel confidence.
“We’ll probably see people (from now on) leaving their bookings to the last minute”.
