With the goal of getting domestic travellers to offset the spending of international visitors, the $1.2b domestic travel stimulus package will offer 800,000 half-priced flights.
Available from 1 April, the half-price flight program will initially operate to 13 key regions, including the Gold Coast, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Mackay region (Proserpine and Hamilton Island), the Sunshine Coast, Lasseter and Alice Springs, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, Broome, Avalon, Merimbula, and Kangaroo Island.
This post-JobKeeper stimulus plan aims to get Australians travelling and supporting tourism operators, businesses, travel agents and airlines who continue to do it tough through COVID-19, with the Prime Minister saying “the package will help take more tourists to Australian hotels and cafes, while seeing Aussies explore their own backyard.”
On the back of the federal government’s announcement, the Gold Coast Airport has reported it is expecting nearly double the number of passenger arrivals in time for Easter. This has the potential to bring the airport’s capacity back to pre-Covid levels. This is fantastic news for Gold Coast businesses in the tourism sector with the significantly decreased number of tourists being the key factor in their struggle to recover post COVID-19 shutdown.
With this incentive and the extension / expansion of the SME Loan Guarantee Scheme (as detailed in our other blog article) the government hopes to provide support to the country’s struggling tourism sector, bringing much needed trade and income into businesses as they transition off financial support via JobKeeper.
