South-east Queensland tourism industry facing rebuild for holiday season

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The tourism industry is working with other agencies to repair infrastructure damaged or destroyed by cyclone Alfred in some of the east coast's most popular holiday destinations. Hotels are reporting cancellations, and tourism operators fear the financial toll will last for months.

Transcript

00:00Queensland's iconic beaches left in ruins, just ahead of the lucrative Easter holiday

00:09period.

00:11Ex-tropical cyclone Alfred stripping millions of cubic metres of sand from the Sunshine

00:16Coast to Coffs Harbour in New South Wales.

00:20Six-metre escarpments stand where beachfronts once stretched on the Gold Coast, leaving

00:25holiday hotspots unrecognisable.

00:28Gold Coast hotelier Marion Simon fears Easter bookings could take a hit.

00:33This is something new, most of us haven't seen anything like this in our lifetime, so

00:37I do think that there will always be a certain amount of fear and a certain amount of hesitancy.

00:42The D'Amazo family, visiting from Sydney, evacuated ahead of the storm.

00:47Now they're back, trying to save what's left of their holiday.

00:51Queensland is our favourite place, it really is, and it's still beautiful.

00:54It's sunny today, it's blue skies, we woke up this morning to beautiful weather.

00:58Some holidaymakers say the beach transformation is a shock.

01:02Australians spend around $25 billion a year on coastal getaways.

01:07Tourism experts say operators need to act quickly in order to rebuild confidence.

01:13It's really important that operators get online and on their socials.

01:19Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is confident beaches will be restored in time for the Easter school

01:24holidays next month.

01:26It's about putting the brand and the welcoming map and paint the picture, the clear blue

01:31skies back.

01:33Tourism operators finding silver linings in the meantime.

01:37We do now have the cliffs of Broadbeach and the cliffs of Surfers, but hey, that's something

01:41else you can say that you've seen.

Category

Transcript

Recommended