WHEN borders were slammed shut, all eyes were on the industry that props up many people across the Whitsundays and Mackay. The tourism sector was left reeling with lockdowns and travel bans in what was a make or break situation. However, with the push to holiday here and immense support from Aussies chasing their share of the Queensland sun, things are looking brighter ahead of 2021. Tourism Whitsunday CEO Tash Wheeler said businesses had battled through yet another hurdle this year after an already tough time for the industry post-Cyclone Debbie. When you look around the world at what has occurred, I think our region has done particularly well (for) the most part, she said.
Big4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort owner Greg McKinnon said the outages were another blow to tourism operators after months of struggling through the pandemic.
Power cut out at the resort at 5.30pm on Wednesday and was not restored until 4am on Thursday.
“It just ruins the reputation not only of ourselves but of the town,” he said.
“You don’t want people to say, ‘Look, let’s not go to Airlie. They don’t have enough power to service their tourists’.
“In today’s society, this sort of thing should never happen.”
The park is currently at full capacity and Mr McKinnon said he had been inundated with complaints.