WA border opening delay prompts relief and resentment in business and tourism sectors - ABC News

Premier Mark McGowan had said the February 5 reopening date was locked in barring "some unforeseen emergency or catastrophe which we can't predict".

She said the setting of the date — and the Premier's assertions it would stick — gave people the certainty to schedule major functions like weddings, and the Hoskings had been gearing up for a big few months.

And how long do we have to tread water for?" Ms Hosking said.

Ms Hosking said her son's company employed 20 staff in Perth who were anxious about what would come next.

Mr Heaton said the same questions businesses were asking of the government about what would happen after February 5 still remained, even without a new date.

"The Premier said February 5 was set in stone and two weeks out, he's gone and changed the goalposts on us yet again.

Mr Lodge said it had troubling impacts for the livelihood of staff members with young families he had hired from other states.

"These are people that have moved out of a job they're currently in and are looking at coming to work for our company, and now it's been pulled out from underneath us but also them and their young families," he said.

Mr Lodge said the Premier and the WA government had lost "all trust" from the tourism and hospitality sector.

Another Kimberley tour operator, Colin Fitzgerald, said he was concerned about the survival of tourism businesses in the state.

Mr Fitzgerald said WA was lagging behind the rest of the world who had accepted the reality of living with COVID-19.

Mr McGowan said local tourism businesses were doing much better than their eastern states counterparts.

"Our tourism industry is the strongest in Australia because we've had measures to keep COVID out and keep people spending," he said.

"The virus is here to stay and the longer restrictions stay in place, the bigger the damage to the economy and to peoples' mental health and wellbeing," the association's Sydney based president Tim Reed said

Mr Reed said the delay would compound the skills shortages being experienced in WA

It would do exactly the opposite," Mr McGowan said