News & Announcements

The Hon. Leeanne Enoch MP, Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science and Minister for the Arts, welcomed attendees to celebrate World Environment Day at the most recent QTIC webinar.

Facilitated by well-known tourism media identity, Sofie Formica, the webinar included presentations from a range of experts discussing global, domestic and local insights about the importance of the environment and sustainability practices across the industry.

The tourism industry has welcomed today’s announcements by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about the next stage of eased COVID-19 restrictions for the state.

The Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) has been advocating strongly for an easing of restrictions on the basis of strong evidence that the spread of the virus was being very successfully managed and ‘the curve’ having been flattened.

The last few days have been somewhat confusing, if not a distressing rollercoaster for many in our industry. We did have the announcement on Tuesday, by the Premier, of the small business grants program and the specific tourism infrastructure grants. Along with some other Queensland Government initiatives, QTIC has enthusiastically welcomed those support measures and we will continue to engage with the government on how to craft a strong recovery for tourism. 

Far less reassuring were the statements from both the Premier and the Chief Health Officer about the prospect of keeping Queensland’s borders closed until September or beyond. This was a blow to the industry, previously very much encouraged by the Premier’s release of the Roadmap to easing Queensland’s restrictions. That roadmap with the three stages was exactly what QTIC had been calling for and it gave the industry something to prepare for. Particularly Stage 3 which foreshadowed: Subject to further planning and review, interstate and further intrastate travel will be permitted and a maximum of 100 people.