Accor hotels boss lashes Palaszczuk over closed borders
Australia’s largest hotel operator Accor has accused the Palaszczuk Government of turning its back on workers and demanded it release a roadmap out of the border restrictions.
A day after throwing a lifeline to the Gold and Sunshine coast tourism sectors through subsidised airfares, Accor Pacificās chief executive Simon McGrath said the State Government was āmaking the workforce suffer with the crippling uncertainty they have createdā.
Accor has 101 properties and 4200 employees in the state.
āIt is astonishing that a Labor State Government is turning its back on tourism workers by providing people with no clue as to when the borders will re-open,ā McGrath said.
āThis is killing livelihoods and it is killing Queenslandās tourism industry.
āEvery day tourism businesses are losing money and now there is a very real chance they will miss out on Christmas which means businesses will be forced to close.
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āThe Queensland State Government is failing the workforce. It is time to set a firm date and reopen Queensland.ā
Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the GovernmentĀ wanted to keep the Delta virus out of the state and Queenslanders out of hospital intensive care beds.
āThe Palaszczuk Governmentās number one priority is the safety of Queenslanders, and weāll always follow the expert medical advice of the Chief Health Officer,ā he said.
Ā āWeāve committed more than $1 billion in direct support for the tourism industry because there are no quick and easy solutions out of the pandemic.
Ā āThe Prime Ministerās decisions not to continue with JobKeeper- style payments for tourism until the pandemic recovery, or move more swiftly on securing vaccines, have left one of Queenslandās most important industries in unprecedented difficulty.ā
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