Queue out the door of Top End Tourism as Territorians rush to use vouchers before expiry

DOZENS queued up at Tourism Top End today, eager to book in a Territory holiday with their tourism vouchers before they expire on Friday.

• NT government to spend $10m extending popular Territory tourism voucher scheme for another two rounds
• Industry urges Territorians to redeem tourism vouchers, with more than half not yet used days out from expiry
• All 26,000 Northern Territory $200 tourism vouchers snapped up within hours

DOZENS queued up at Tourism Top End yesterday morning, eager to book in a Territory holiday with their tourism vouchers before they expire on Friday.

Darwin resident Debbie Riley is hoping to take part in a Matt Wright experience with friends but has had issues booking through the online system for about a week.

Debbie Riley has been trying to use her tourism voucher to book a Matt Wright experience online for about week, but problems with the voucher scheme website prompted her to visit Top End Tourism in person this morning. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

“I tried to book online but that was not working, I couldn’t get on but a friend could. Then we couldn’t find dates so I ended up ringing up the Matt Wright office and they said they were operating on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday and there were vacancies on all of them. So I’m here trying to sort it out,” she said.

“It is frustrating but I guess everyone has left it to the last minute.”

Dozens of people queued outside the Tourism Top End office this morning, eager to book a Territory holiday with their tourism vouchers before they expire. Picture Katrina Bridgeford.

Ms Riley said given the complexity of the booking system it was worth extending the expiry date, so those who had plans but had struggled to book didn’t miss out.

“I think it’s worthwhile since the website isn’t working,” she said.

“It’s clunky, you can’t get a list of dates … with all the information you get, they push you to a website but it’s not effective which is why I’m here.”

But she said the extension of the program was worthwhile though and had encouraged her group to indulge in a holiday

“I wouldn’t have done this if it hadn’t been for the voucher, it’s just a bit expensive.

“It’s very generous, I wouldn’t have done this if it hadn’t been for the voucher, it’s just a bit expensive.”

LIMITED TIME: New NT News subscription offer: $1 a week for the first 12 weeks

The first round of vouchers will expire on July 31.

Follow @zwar_w