Tourism operators and flood-hit Far North Queenslanders are calling on airlines to give them a fair go after one couple was hit with hundreds of dollars in fees.
Debra and David McAteer were due to fly from Cairns to Victoria yesterday to visit their elderly parents for Christmas.
Unable to reach Cairns from Mission Beach due to flooding and following the announcement the airport was closed, Ms McAteer called the airline to rebook their flights.
“He said there will be a fee and I said, ‘oh, OK, and how much is the fee?’ And he said $435.19 and I nearly had a heart attack,” she said.
“We’re virtually paying our airfares all over again. It’s just not good enough and it should never happen.”
Travellers have begun touching down in Cairns again after the record-breaking rain brought by the remnants of ex-cyclone Jasper forced the airport to close repeatedly, even flooding some private planes.
It’s a sight for sore eyes for tourism operators battered by repeat cancellations.
Pinnacle Tourism Marketing owner Michael Nelson said more than $60 million in bookings had already been written off across the tourist-dependent region.
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With Christmas now less than a week away, businesses in travel hotspots are urging people not to cancel their holidays.
Nelson said the far north tended to “bounce back pretty quickly”, with hotels and restaurants “open and ready to go”.
But it’s not just the weather affecting travel plans, as tourists and residents alike deal with soaring prices.
“There is no reason why people can’t come up here and have a holiday,” Nelson said.
Efforts to rebuild and restore Cairns begin
“And it would be an absolute travesty If the airlines were looking a little bit short-term to say right we can make some advantage out of this.”
