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With Victoria having recording two more COVID-19 cases from Melbourne’s hotel outbreak in the last 24 hours,  taking the cluster’s total to 10, Queensland tourism operators are very nervous that the Queensland Premier may close the Queensland border to visitors from Greater Melbourne, with South Australia having already closed its border to anyone from Greater Melbourne, with authorities admitting the growing cases have them “very concerned”.

Queensland has also already reinstated its border declaration system for Victorians from 1.00am on Saturday with Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles saying that Queensland won’t declare Melbourne a coronavirus hotspot but border passes will be reinstated saying it’s “too early” to declare a COVID-19 hotspot, with travellers entering Queensland from Melbourne are already required to get a COVID-19 test and isolate until they receive their result.

He added that Queensland wanted to rule out any chance of a threat in the community, with anyone from Victoria entering Queensland forced to declare if they have or haven’t visited any of the exposure sites revealed by Victorian health authorities.

With some of Queensland’s tourism industry already experiencing a nosedive in business after the recommencement of school terms in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland and the Jobkeeper programme ending March, the additional closure of the Queensland border to Greater Melbourne could be the final nail in the coffin of some of Queensland’s already struggling tourism operators.

It also appears that the industry itself, or at least some of the industry, may have also damaged the reputation of the main tourism destinations in Queensland with over Christmas, New Year and January, reports of price gouging, over the top rates and over charging and also refusals to provide refunds when borders close and bookings necessarily cancelled.

A report by John Alwyn-Jones