Victorians will be allowed to travel to Queensland from 1 December, so start planning your Melbourne-based clients’ summer jaunts.
The news follows Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s announcement yesterday that the state would open its borders to Greater Sydney from the same date.
“Victoria and New South Wales have both reached 28 days of no unlinked community transmission, which means it’s safe to open our borders again,” she said on Twitter.
During a press conference yesterday, Palaszczuk hinted that Victorians would be able to travel to the sunshine state as soon as they reached the 28-day milestone.
Qantas will recommence direct flights from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast following the announcement of the border opening between Queensland and Victoria.
From 17 December, the flying kangaroo will operate a daily service with passengers arriving on the Sunshine Coast at lunchtime.
The seasonal service will run to 31 January 2021 and will be the first time in three years that Qantas has flown on the route.
The flights will be operated by a two-class Boeing 717 aircraft, offering more than 1500 seats each week. The airline said it will look to extend the service if there is strong demand.
Qantas will also restart flights from Sydney to Maroochydore on 1 December with five services a week, increasing to daily flights from 18 December.
Jetstar will also recommence services to Maroochydore operating up 44 flights a week from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Virgin Australia is promising more than 38,000 seats between Melbourne and Queensland ahead of Christmas.
The significant increase in the airline’s services between the two states will predominantly be on core leisure and capital city routes.
They will include additional frequencies between Melbourne and Brisbane, while flights between Melbourne and the Gold Coast, Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast, and Melbourne and Cairns will take-off just in time for Christmas, for the first time since late March.
Tourism Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson said the border reopenings have been warmly welcomed by members.
“It will definitely see a return of ‘open flow’ domestic tourism, which has been sadly lacking for some months,” he said.
“Bookings have already started, with CBD hotels in Sydney now welcoming Victorians back into their COVID-safe hotels.
“With borders now open, planning for 2021 meetings and conferences will start to take shape as we watch our industry finally taking steps towards recovery.”
Featured image source: Facebook/Annastacia Palaszczuk
