Territory Tourism Discount Scheme: $1m scheme likely to be tapped a month early
The NT Government’s $1m Territory Tourism Discount Scheme, offering a 25 per cent discount on a variety of experiences in a bid to bolster wet season activity, is likely to be tapped dry a month sooner than planned.
Northern Territory
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The NT Government’s $1m Territory Tourism Discount Scheme, which offers a 25 per cent discount on a variety of experiences in a bid to bolster wet season activity, is likely to be tapped dry a month sooner than planned.
The scheme, announced on February 14 and originally scheduled to run until April 30, is now unlikely to last much past the Easter long weekend due to high uptake, Tourism Top End general manager Samantha Bennett told the NT News.
“It’s going to be oversubscribed,” she said.
“It’s been taken up really well, the operators are all doing really well out of it.
“It’s reaching the regions. Kakadu’s doing really well out of it.”
According to Tourism Top End figures, of the discounted experiences taken up in the Top End, 36 per cent have been in Darwin but the remainder have been in places like Katherine, Litchfield and Kakadu.
Visitation to her organisation’s website, where the 25 per cent discount is applied automatically, was up “something like 400 per cent”.
“It’s doing exactly what it was supposed to do, which is kickstart our season when we were a bit flat,” Ms Bennett said.
“It’s getting people to commit now.”
The discount will continue to be applied automatically to experiences booked via Tourism Top End, Discover Central Australia, and visitor information centres at Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Yulara.
The discount is applicable on transactions up to $5000 and there is no limit on how many discounted experiences can be booked.
Experiences currently available via the Tourism Top End website include Nitmiluk Gorge cruises, Kakadu fishing expeditions, Adelaide River jumping crocodile cruises, VIP Litchfield National Park tours, and four-wheel drive safaris.
When announcing the scheme in February, Tourism Minister Joel Bowden said the sector was “important for the future of the Territory economy and liveability for Territorians,” employing 6900 locals, many of them in small to medium sized enterprises.
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