Business
24 October, 2020
Far North Queensland Business Confidence Plummets In Wake Of Global Pandemic
Business confidence in Far North Queensland has decreased significantly in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the PVW Partners Bi-Annual Far North Queensland Business Confidence Survey plummeting by 10 index points.
Partner Greg Peel said reduced travel and tourism into the region are among the main factors identified by local business.
“We’ve seen a lot of businesses locally doing it tough over an extended period of time and that certainly shows in the September 2020 PVW Partners Bi-Annual Far North Queensland Business Confidence Survey results which now have business confidence in negative territory for the first time since the survey began,” Mr Peel said.
“Around 47 per cent of respondents indicated they expect a reduction in business air travel, while one third of those people surveyed said they anticipate decreased consumer demand, entertainment expenditure and capital investment in their businesses over the coming months.
“Government stimulus initiatives are clearly having some impact though, with around 70 per cent of those businesses surveyed indicating they expect to maintain their current workforce and 15% will likely increase their employee numbers over the next 6 months.”
Mr Peel said the result is to be expected following a prolonged period of volatility in the local economy even before the impacts of COVID-19.
PVW Partners asked local businesses what they would most like to see Local, State and Federal Governments focus on to assist in the COVID-19 recovery.
“More than 40 per cent of respondents indicated ongoing financial stimulus is going to be critical to their recovery, while 23 per cent of businesses want to see an investment in new tourism infrastructure,” Mr Peel said.
“Given that tourism contributes around $100 million to the local economy, it comes as no surprise that businesses want to see more investment in that area, particularly as we start to see an increase in domestic travellers coming into regional Queensland.
“Interestingly, the remaining respondents placed shovel ready projects, destination marketing and local content quota in contracts as having equal importance in the economic recovery of the region.”
