NT tourism: $6m boost for airlines and international marketing to feature in 2024–25 budget

With international arrivals still down more than 50 per cent on pre-Covid levels according to the Tourism Minister, the government has unveiled new spending ahead of the 2024–25 budget.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler aboard a Sea Darwin – Sea Tiwi vessel in Darwin Harbour, alongside a new trainee at the business. Picture: Alex Treacy

With international arrivals still down more than 50 per cent on pre-Covid levels, the Territory government has unveiled $6 million worth of new spending on the sector ahead of the 2024–25 budget.

On Monday, Chief Minister Eva Lawler and Tourism Minister Joel Bowden revealed the tourism sector would receive $68m in the upcoming budget – up $6m from the year prior.

The additional $6m will be split evenly between international marketing, in a bid to woo back tourists from key markets such as China, and $3m towards cooperative marketing with airlines that have participated in the government’s Territory Aviation Attraction Scheme.

According to government figures, the $10m scheme, which was launched in July 2023, has resulted in six new routes servicing the Territory and additional capacity at Alice Springs, Uluru and Darwin airports.

Ms Lawler described tourism as a “key industry that gets the Territory working,” contributing about $1.5bn to the economy and supporting 12,5000 jobs.

“We’ve worked hard with the airlines, the tourism industry and airports to secure new direct flights to the Territory with Airnorth, Virgin Australia and Bonza all committing to new or extra services,” she said.

Bonza new route from the Gold Coast to Darwin was aided by the $10m Territory Aviation Attraction Scheme. Picture: File

Mr Bowden said that while there was an “upward trend” in visitation figures to the Territory, there was still much ground to gain in the international market, with overseas arrivals still down more than 50 per cent on pre-Covid levels.

“Our international market is yet to fully re-establish itself after the downturn we were all aware of,” he said.

“As we see some of our bigger markets, especially in Asia and China, coming back on, we really want to entice them to use the money that they’ve got to spend on recreation – in the Northern Territory.”

Monday’s announcement is the latest in a suite of support offered to the sector.

Last week, a $1m funding pool was opened under the latest round of the Aboriginal Tourism Grant Program to allow First Nations Territorians seeking to share their people’s culture, language, art and stories with the world to debut new products and upgrade infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Territory Tourism Discount Scheme will be extended to June 30 for experiences in the Central Australia and Barkly regions.

Earlier this week, the NT News reported that an estimated $2.2m worth of bookings in Central Australia had been cancelled in response to social unrest in Alice Springs.