More than 30,000 tickets sold to Darwin in federal half price flight sale

AUSTRALIANS keen to snap up a half-price airfare from the federal government need to hurry up, with more than three quarters of the 800,000 tickets available already gone

AUSTRALIANS keen to snap up a half-price airfare from the federal government need to hurry up, with more than three quarters of the 800,000 tickets available already gone.

So far 600,000 airfares have been sold, with more than 30,000 of those tickets sold for travel to Darwin between April and September.

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce is hoping some of the fares were sold to people relocating to the NT, not just tourists as the industry suffers from a lack of staff.

Darwin, Alice Springs and Uluru were included in the destination list for the half-priced airfares initiative.

Senator Sam McMahon said the sold fares were a “great vote of confidence in the Territory as a tourist destination”.

“While these are good figures and the federal government must be congratulated for implementing the scheme, we need to be able to service those thousands of people when they come,” she said.”

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Ms McMahon said the Territory Government and tourism industries needed to make the most of the opportunity presented in domestic travel due to coronavirus to ensure as many tickets as possible were bought to the NT during the sale.

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce said the sales provided an opportunity for people to relocate north, with hopes of filling the workforce void which opened to due a lack of international travel.

“It is good to see thousands of domestic tourists taking advantage of the scheme to come to the Top End and Red Centre,” he said.

“There are still seats available and now we want not only tourists but would be workers get a half price flight and come work with us.

“We think this scheme compliments the NT Government workforce package announced on Friday and makes it even more of a no-brainer for Aussies to work here this year.”

Discounted ticket sales under the scheme are set to finish at the end of July but the Government is not saying yet if it plans to offer more when the final tickets are sold, saying it will continue to review the program, including routes and ticket numbers.

Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said the tickets were going “like hot cakes” and people should hurry up and book if they didn’t want to miss out.

“My message to Australians is take advantage of this opportunity to book a cheap holiday through your travel agent and when you’re on holiday spend on a tourist activity and a night out to support tourism jobs and business,” he said.

“For every dollar spent on a flight ten more will be spent on the ground and from speaking to so many people in the tourism industry, I know this program has made a difference.

Me Tehan said the tourism industry was central to the Government’s National Economic Recovery Plan and it would continue to make the necessary investments to support jobs across Australia. 

Originally published as More than 30,000 tickets sold to Darwin in federal half price flight sale