It is a great honour to have led the QHA through, and out of the first shutdown of the Queensland hospitality and tourism industry in living memory. I say that, not because it was a pleasant experience, nor that I have enjoyed the frustrated and tortured voices of members on the other end of phone and video calls. I say it because I couldn’t be prouder of the tenacity and inventiveness that we have seen throughout the state as members turned their business models upside-down and tried to find a way to keep themselves and their wonderful staff in employment. It is fair to say that virtually none of you had any time to plan, only to react the very best you could and, on the whole, it was very good indeed.

This QHA Review magazine is jammed-packed with survival stories and thoughts for the future. It is intentionally targeted at the future as we believe that in a post-COVID lockdown world, there is a long and vibrant future for hotels and tourism in Queensland.

We don’t know exactly what that future looks like yet. However, there is one glittering silver lining from 2020 - each business, including the QHA, have had the chance to have a “good hard look at ourselves” and decide what is truly important. Some of our businesses are leaner, some offer new services and sadly some of us have lost team members. However, each and every one of us has gone through a business excellence exercise that we never asked for. It will make you, your teams and your businesses stronger in the long term.

We at the QHA are honoured to have been able to support our members and look forward to doing it for many years to come. We are focussed on bouncing back and delivering services with less staff and resources than before – but you can be guaranteed that we will continue to assist all of you as we chase down new opportunities.

Thank you for continuing to support us.

Bernie Hogan
Chief Executive

To read the April 2020 Editor Letter by Bernie Hogan - click here