Business leaders are confident an accident on a ride at a Gold Coast theme park that left a 12-year-old boy with a head injury won't cripple the recovering tourism industry.
The incident at Warner Brothers Movie World on Tuesday afternoon occurred just days after the city's airport had its busiest 24 hours in more than two years.
The boy remains in a stable condition at Gold Coast University Hospital after suffering a laceration to his head on the Looney Tunes carousel ride about 1pm yesterday.
Village Roadshow Theme Parks said the ride had been closed.
President of the Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce Martin Hall said he does not believe the incident will impact the region's tourism recovery.
"Our visitors and also the locals have been kept indoors for so long with the COVID restrictions, I don't think this is going to repel too many people from the parks."
Gold Coast open for business
In its statement, Village Roadshow Theme Parks confirmed the boy suffered a cut to his head.
Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) senior operations supervisor William Houghton said the boy had suffered a "deep laceration to his head", but that his injuries were "non-life-threatening".
Airport planning for 'record' numbers
Queensland Airports chief executive officer Chris Mills said he did not think the incident would deter tourists from travelling to the Gold Coast this school holidays.
More than 21,000 passengers used the airport last Friday, on the first day of school holidays — the busiest day since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Firstly, all the best to the young boy and the family,” he told ABC Gold Coast.
“In terms of perception of the Gold Coast, I don't think [it will be affected].
“The theme parks are absolutely one of the huge attractions for the Gold Coast but we have plenty more in the way of resorts, the hinterland, the beaches and other activities."
Mr Mills said Easter passenger numbers could be higher than the previous April record set during the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
“It is fantastic to see numbers recovering at this pace after two challenging years for the airport and tourism sector we support,” he said.
Accommodation 'picking up'
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O'Callaghan said tourism operators had worked hard to attract visitors this month.
"Our occupancy for school holidays is sitting above 70 per cent, on average, so that's really good news.
"It's spiking as high as 84 per cent for Easter, so the bookings continue to pick up."
After two years of COVID chaos, tourism operator Shannon Deere is trying to remain optimistic.
She manages the Ocean Beach Tourist Park on the Gold Coast and is hopeful of a bumper Easter period as interstate visitors return.
"We are getting a lot of interstate [business] now which is nice, that people actually are able to travel now and get over the border," she said.
"We've got a few [tourists] from Victoria and New South Wales coming up and spending the holidays with us."
Ms Deere's occupancy rates are around 85 per cent.
"With 90 per cent over the Easter long weekend, so yeah, we're looking pretty good," she said.
"We were always optimistic but I guess you just never know what's around the corner."
Operators watching Easter forecast
Accommodation providers said one of the biggest threats to the current holiday period was the weather.
Richard Arbon from Burleigh Beach Towers said he was nearly fully booked for April but hoped La Nina did not ruin Easter.
'Easter's always a bit hit and miss depending on weather," he said.
"We are generally fairly solidly booked through Easter, but you always keep your fingers crossed that there's no East Coast lows or anything floating around at that time of year.
"At this stage it's looking pretty good."
