After lifting intrastate travel restrictions on Monday, Palaszczuk has visited Cairns, Townsville and, today, Airlie Beach, to encourage Queenslanders to take holidays to support the tourism sector.

Palaszcuk said the State Government, which has already offered financial leverage to save Virgin, was in talks with Qantas and other airlines to boost regional services. She announced that from June 22, Alliance Airlines would fly four times per week from Brisbane to the Whitsundays.

“Queensland is beautiful one day, perfect the next,” Palaszczuk told reporters in Airlie Beach.

“For many people, who may have been to Bali, or Thailand, or the Greek Islands, now is your opportunity to come and support the beautiful Whitsundays.”

Palaszczuk was joined by Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind and Tourism Minister Kate Jones, who said “where else would you rather be for winter then here in the Whitsundays?”

A decision on whether to reopen the Queensland-NSW border will be made at the end of June, and Palaszczuk vowed to continue relying on health advice. When the restrictions are lifted, Palaszczuk has vowed to go to Sydney herself to drum up Queensland tourism.

Queensland announced another case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, in a traveller returning from Africa and under mandatory quarantine. Overnight, there were no new cases of COVID-19 recorded, leaving Queensland’s tally at 1059 on Wednesday morning. While Queensland cases began to plateau in early April, southern states have yet to record such a trend, and Victoria’s tally increased by seven overnight.