This brief report provides lesson drawing from the public service response to COVID-19 in the context of tourism in Queensland. The tourism sector is not exempt from unexpected and rapid change. Given that Queensland is the subject of random events and natural disasters to a relatively high degree from cyclones to flooding and drought, key tourism stakeholders (e.g., public service entities, hotel employees, tourism operators) are often at the front line of crisis response and disaster management. For the purpose of the report, tourism crisis is defined as: “any occurrence which can threaten the normal operation and conduct of tourism related businesses; damage a tourist destination's overall reputation for safety, attractiveness and comfort by negatively affecting visitors' perceptions of that destination; and, in turn, cause a downturn in the local travel and tourism economy and interrupt the continuity of business operations for the local travel and tourism industry by the reduction in tourist arrivals and expenditures.” The report works to capture institutional insights to maximise response and recovery efforts to the current pandemic and ‘crisis proof’ the tourism industry for antifragility. Boosting institutional memory in the Queensland government will better prepare it for future scenarios where coupling of complex risk events is increasingly likely (e.g., COVID-19 and cyclone events at the same time). In considering the response of the public service to the impact of COVID-19 on Queensland’s tourism industry, the report outlines: - Tourism impacts in Queensland and globally - Queensland Government responses to tourism recovery - Outcomes of the Good to Go campaign - Public Service Leadership attributes.