For Gold Coast surf school owner Pat O’Leary, the sound of planes landing at the nearby airport has become cause for excitement.
After nearly two years of battling pandemic restrictions and impacts of border closures, he said the border reopening on Monday had created a sense of hope and optimism in the community, particularly ahead of the Christmas holiday season.
“It’s fantastic, I used to get annoyed at the sound of the planes but now I’m like, ‘Beauty, there’s another load [of visitors]’,” he said.
“A lot of people have suffered, so I know they’re super excited about getting back to work to make some dough.”
The Surf Easy Surf School owner said, while customers were beginning to trickle back and businesses were preparing for a bumper Christmas break, a sense of apprehension was still in the air.
“We’ve noticed more people around and we’re expecting Christmas to be busy, but advanced bookings have been down a bit. Now people are booking the day or so before,” he said.
“But in general we are still expecting many people once they actually get here to start booking and doing things.”
Coolangatta hair salon owner Lee Forbutt agreed, saying fear of a snap border closure had deterred some interstate visitors, but businesses were more worried about whether their old customers would return.
“I think there’s a lot of apprehension that the border will shut any minute and they’ll get trapped,” she said.
“So we’ve had a lot of people say no they won’t be coming.
But she said so far things were looking good, with traffic delays not nearly as bad as anticipated, and phones beginning to ring again.
“I think everyone’s been pleasantly surprised,” she said.
“Lots of customers, 50 per cent of them have started to ring back and book in, which is lovely.
“I think everyone can see a little bit of hope now, as long as they do stay open.”
No border closures over Christmas
According to Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles, the government has put plans in place to ensure no border closures happen over the Christmas period, even as Covid cases are expected to rise.
He said Queensland would likely adopt a similar approach to South Australia.
“I think the modelling suggests that even as cases start to arrive they won’t be reaching peak kind of levels until into March.”
Coolangatta Oakberry owner Gus Daseri said businesses were looking forward to beginning their road to recovery.
“We are excited that this has finally finished and we can get back to our routine,” he said.
“Everything is coming together now. It’s school holidays and the border is open.
“Only yesterday, we already had a really good day with a lot of people coming and happy to be back so yeah, you can feel the vibes already.”
