How busy (or not) is it in winter holiday spots cut off from half the country right now?

[MARTINE]

So… even though it’s under the Covid thread.. I want to ask fellow travellers who live in places like FNQ/Broome/Darwin etc what do you see is different (or not) right now.

What prompted me was when I cancelled all future travel plans (Broome/Lizard) there rooms are still booked for months and ditto for similar destinations. Even for the next week it’s hard to get a room and none of us in the eastern seaboard can travel. Friends have reported this too?

Is this people holding onto the dream and booking assuming they’ll travel soon?

Providers restricting what’s available due to inability to staff +/- allusion of activity ie places like Qalia say you need to join waitlist and booked for months?

Other?


so — asking fellow AFP posters who live in these regions are people still travelling to your towns and what do the local hotels etc look like? PS wish I was there too!

 

[Batterytraveller]

Great question, having had two trips away (falls creek and Queenstown) cancelled by circumstances; our plan is to drop everything and go somewhere (anywhere) as soon as circumstances allow.

I’ve assumed that there would be somewhere to stay as long as one wasn’t too picky.

 

[MARTINE]

Yep - with all these refunds/airline credits and being retired we will use the 24 hour rule to travel. I also plan to ring hotels directly and discuss the options they can offer… I just don’t believe all these places are full …

 

[Princess Fiona]

I’ll hopefully let you know about one of them tomorrow

 

[Mattg]

Well I’m in Cairns right now. While it’s not exactly overcrowded (especially at the airport) it is busier than I expected. A lot of people visiting from Brisbane and the night markets & restaurants in the CBD were all busy last night.

 

[MARTINE]

Well I’m in Cairns right now. While it’s not exactly overcrowded (especially at the airport) it is busier than I expected. A lot of people visiting from Brisbane and the night markets & restaurants in the CBD were all busy last night.

Enjoy… reminds me of the good old days three months ago travelling in VICTORIA … I’m glad to hear that everyone who can supporting the tourism industry

 

[Brissy1]

Anyone know how busy Noosa is atm? Stuck in Syd now and have had to cnl 3 seperate weeks since covid. Just don't tell me that the weather is glorious.

 

[I love to travel]

Anyone know how busy Noosa is atm? Stuck in Syd now and have had to cnl 3 seperate weeks since covid. Just don't tell me that the weather is glorious.

Very windy not pleasant.

 

[Brissy1]

Very windy not pleasant.

Good. Just like Syd.

 

[k_sheep]

Sunshine coast living up to its name for once - yes sunny, but gusty. Yesterday was nice.

Plenty of people out and about, often a short wait for the good cafes. Don't know about hotels but one in Caloundra just got converted to quarantine for interstate visitors so imagine there's slightly less availability now.

 

[drron]

Well Launceston isn't a normal winter destination but until the triple lockdowns it was hectic and accommodation at a premium.I am in my 5th place for my 3 month stay.Never before have I had to move if here for 2-3 months.
I have been in Tassie on 3 previous occasions for winter,once in Launceston.Even now Launceston is busier for this time of year compared to previous trips though well down on tourist numbers from a few weeks earlier.

 

[MARTINE]

Weather in Tokyo looks nice from my couch…

 

[RB]

Currently in Atherton. Drove from Townsville via Charters Towers and Mt Surprise-plenty of vans and motorhomes on the roads. Caravan Park owners apparently enjoying boom times. Plenty of people free camping too.
We were on Magnetic Island last week. I heard locals commenting that visitor numbers were strong but people were not out and about as much & not spending.

 

[Seat0B]

Just back from Jindabyne and Perisher. Things are very quiet there. Saturday was busier than Friday, so looks like a few fellow Canberrans headed down for the weekend. There is a massive snow dump going on, but blizzard winds and very bad viz so no fun skiing despite fresh powder and virtually no people. To tell the truth, I quite liked it - back to the good old days before skiing became so popular.
It snowed overnight in Jindabyne too - at least 5 cm and that accumulated and was still on the ground at 2pm as we were leaving.

 

[Daver6]

I can't comment directly, but I'm in PER. Trip to SA late next week isn't going to happen. Looked at alternatives in WA, mainly Broome and Margaret River area. Premium accommodation in both is very heavily booked and on the expensive side. I was hoping with most the country locked out of WA there would have been cancellations, but it isn't reflected in availability.

 

[Simo]

I work in a Tourist area and it does seem a little more quiet but overall still people around... I worked yesterday and there was a spare park here and there all day where normally no chance of getting a park..

 

[burmans]

I have a few days booked in Perisher end next month and have to cancel by next Saturday due to 30 day free cancellation policy. My thinking was that it would be easy to rebook as there must have been plenty of cancellations but doesn’t really appear that way. Of course some may be waiting to last minute as many cancellation policy require govt edict and at the moment NSW (I’m in Sydney) lockdown is only ‘officially’ until July 31 even if we all know it’s likely to go much longer.

 

[boardie_19]

So… even though it’s under the Covid thread.. I want to ask fellow travellers who live in places like FNQ/Broome/Darwin etc what do you see is different (or not) right now.

What prompted me was when I cancelled all future travel plans (Broome/Lizard) there rooms are still booked for months and ditto for similar destinations. Even for the next week it’s hard to get a room and none of us in the eastern seaboard can travel. Friends have reported this too?

Is this people holding onto the dream and booking assuming they’ll travel soon?

Providers restricting what’s available due to inability to staff +/- allusion of activity ie places like Qalia say you need to join waitlist and booked for months?

Other?


so — asking fellow AFP posters who live in these regions are people still travelling to your towns and what do the local hotels etc look like? PS wish I was there too!

Hi there,

I can only speak for Qualia as I work there, we have been booked out for months and due to cancellations the owners have decided to use the time to ‘refresh’ rooms and a good part of the resort and spa. The were against the idea of having a full resort with construction happening in the background which would lessen the experience for guests who could visit the property. They have said to us considering how volatile border closures are they have just taken the gamble to commence the refresh and recoup any financial losses post Covid.

A few rooms are available that are further away from the main buildings which are occupied but have blocked out a fair share of pavilions due to the above so what you would see online usually is accurate (Qualias own website). Personally I would spend your money and visit post refresh.

Stay safe.

 

[MARTINE]

Hi there,

I can only speak for Qualia as I work there, we have been booked out for months and due to cancellations the owners have decided to use the time to ‘refresh’ rooms and a good part of the resort and spa. The were against the idea of having a full resort with construction happening in the background which would lessen the experience for guests who could visit the property. They have said to us considering how volatile border closures are they have just taken the gamble to commence the refresh and recoup any financial losses post Covid.

A few rooms are available that are further away from the main buildings which are occupied but have blocked out a fair share of pavilions due to the above so what you would see online usually is accurate (Qualias own website). Personally I would spend your money and visit post refresh.

Stay safe.

Thankyou so much for this on the ground insight. I would love to get there once ………… I can. I had not thought about using the time for construction and refurb works but that does bring something ‘positive‘ out of this whole disaster. Stay safe and well

 

[PineappleSkip]

We were in Woodgate and Seveenteen Seventy last week, where SE Qld morphs into Central Qld. Both wonderful places to visit if you like low key beach places. Seveenteen Seventy in particular was a madhouse, we have never seen it so busy. The Bruce highway traffic was like it was school holidays, but it wasn't.

In both locations the managers are dealing with constant cancellations from locked down visitors down south, with the cancellations being "snapped up" very quickly after. We were aiming (and booked flights) to head for Sydney, but of course had to cancel. Woodgate in particular the reception had a constant stream of cancellation phone calls, and it wasn't off the back of any freshly announced lockdowns.

The sense that I get from a number of these trips over the last year was that anywhere that is a road trip destination is going gangbusters, whereas anywhere that relies on air trippers (e.g. Cairns, Gold Coast) does it tougher. And our future strategy is not to advance plan anything but become last minute snapper uppers.

Cheers skip