Cold snap prompts rush on Darwin holidays

The combination of Covid and winter has seen holiday-makers flocking to Australia’s northern most capital to escape the chill.

Taylah Matthews and Casey Hunt in the Crocosaurus Cove “Cage of Death” in Darwin. Picture: Jenni Collier

The brutal start to winter in the country’s southern states has triggered a holiday rush for Australia’s steamiest city – Darwin.

That’s according to analysis of Qantas’s travel bookings for the mid-year break, which reveals demand to travel to the Northern Territory capital was far higher than other holiday destinations.

The airline has had to increase – from six to 14 – the number of weekly flights between Melbourne and Darwin, while larger planes are now being used on flights from Sydney and Brisbane. Qantas was also seeing strong interest in its new Canberra-­Darwin services starting later this month, in a trend that has been welcomed by the Territory government.

And it is local Darwin tourism attractions that are reaping the benefit of bumper crowds ahead of the holiday period.

At Crocosaurus Cove, in the centre of town, general manager Penny Eckel said the saltwater crocodiles always drew a crowd, but this year “we’re very excited”.

Perth’s Dale Smeulders, son Lachlan and nieces Casey Hunt and Taylah Matthews were taking the plunge in the Crocosaurus “cage of death” this week as part of the family’s holiday to Darwin.

Ms Smeulders said she used to live in Kununnura – near the NT border with Western Australia – and wanted to show her family the region. “With the international borders closed, it’s a great opportunity to have a look in your own backyard and appreciate all the stuff Australia has to offer,” Ms Smeulders said.

Qantas has also reported strong demand for traditional holiday spots including Broome, Cairns and Byron Bay – but the ­interest is not all one way.

Bookings for Qantas’s new “snow” routes to Albury and Cooma in southern NSW have also been booming, prompting the addition of a fourth weekly service between Brisbane and ­Albury.

Flights to Queenstown in New Zealand are also filling fast, with Qantas reporting an 170 per cent increase in passengers compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

Qantas domestic chief executive Andrew David said the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic had led to some “remarkable changes in travel demand”, and Northern Australia was the big winner.

“We’re expecting demand to bounce back strongly after the most recent Victorian outbreak and we’ll have more than double the capacity between Melbourne and Darwin than pre-Covid in July,” Mr David said.

“Last week’s winter blast has got people thinking about the snow and we’ve seen a big jump in bookings on the back of that.”

But statistics released by Tourism Research Australia on Friday show significantly lower visitor numbers in some destinations compared to the first three months of last year. Visitors to Sydney were down 63 per cent in January compared to the previous year, although they were 27 per cent higher in March.

Flight booking site Skyscanner revealed Australia had the second busiest domestic travel market in the Asia Pacific – after South Korea and ahead of Japan.

Skyscanner regional director Paul Whiteway said low airfares being offered by carriers were helping to stimulate flying, with their research showing price ­remained the biggest factor for travellers when booking trips.

Data compiled by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics for June, shows discount economy fares ­remained at their lowest level in five years, at about 60 per cent of full fares. Business class fares were at seven-year lows.

Originally published as Cold snap prompts rush on Darwin holidays