SYDNEY, March 11, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Almost one million Australians will be
able to enjoy half-price flights to domestic holiday destinations, under a
government plan announced Thursday to boost tourism as Covid border closures
keep international travellers out.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government would spend Aus$1.2
billion (US$929,000 million) to subsidise 800,000 flights to areas outside
major cities that were “heavily dependent on international tourists”.
Half-price airfares will be offered to entice Australians to book holidays
at places like the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru and the Gold Coast.
Australia has been effectively sealed off from the rest of the world since
shutting its border last March in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and
is yet to announce when it will reopen to overseas visitors. International
tourism was worth about Aus$45 billion (US$35 billion) a year to the
country’s economy before the pandemic hit.
A massive funding package subsidised millions of jobs over the past year
but will finish at the end of March, raising concerns thousands of people in
worst-hit industries like tourism will be left out of work.
The discounted airfares will be available from April, as the government
looks to cushion the blow and put the onus on Australians to help support the
sector.
Several lesser-known holiday spots typically more popular with locals than
international tourists are also among the 13 supported destinations.
The initiative has been welcomed by struggling airlines Qantas and Virgin
Australia, but others in the travel industry as well as workers’ unions have
complained it does not go far enough.
Morrison has called the scheme “a bridge to a more normal way of life for
Australians”, adding that tourism businesses “don’t want to rely on
government support forever”.