Successful MyDarwin voucher scheme to return in time for Christmas trading
DARWIN council’s successful MyDarwin voucher scheme could return for Christmas, but there’s a twist
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DARWIN council’s successful myDarwin voucher scheme could return for Christmas — but it would come at the cost of free parking in the city during the festive season.
The proposal, to be considered by council tomorrow night, involves diverting anticipated carparking revenue into a stimulus for shoppers and retailers during the holiday season.
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Innovation and Information Services executive manager Michael De Luca said a pledge from Chief Minister Michael Gunner would have funding matched for Darwin’s Christmas revival of the scheme. But the vouchers would replace the free holiday parking previously offered by the council.
“On average $180,000 to $240,000 of revenue is generated from Central Business District carparking during the Christmas period,” Mr De Luca said.
“Instead of providing free carparking in the CBD to the community during the Christmas period, a pre-allocated $200,000 of carparking revenue could be utilised to further stimulate the Darwin economy using the myDarwin program.”
Council estimates a further $200,000 would contribute $1.2m into the local economy, which could exceed $2.5m with the NT government’s contribution.
“Once a decision is reached, a response to the Chief Minister will be compiled,” Mr De Luca said.
The popularity of the scheme across other municipalities in the NT added weight to the proposal to reinstate myDarwin over Christmas.
“In recent weeks we have seen the uptake of the myDarwin initiative across other local governments in the Territory, proving the success of the platform and just how essential in the COVID-19 recovery myDarwin has become,” Mr De Luca said.
“City of Darwin continues to support our local businesses and enables other like- minded local governments with the ability to do the same via offering this platform under licence.”
Splash Swimwear owner Lisa Richards said the myDarwin voucher program helped increase traffic coming through the doors.
“I think it’s an amazing idea. It’s fantastic for all businesses that benefit from it. It worked well the first one they did, definitely boosted the economy during the down time,” she said.
“Customers loved it, it generated extra spending and I’m sure they will love it again, especially around Christmas.
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“It’ll be a nice little welcome bonus over the Christmas period for customers and businesses that are participating in it — we’ll both win.”
Changes would be made to the program to make it last longer, including a 48-hour turnaround time for vouchers instead of 24 hours.
Other changes include the integration with a third-party email marketing platform, and improved users and business registration.
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