Territory tourism voucher waiting list balloons to 25,000 people, as first burst release deadline looms
MORE than 25,000 Territorians are waiting in line for the chance to snap up a coveted Territory tourism voucher, the department has revealed, as those lucky enough to score one run out of time to book a trip before deadline.
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MORE than 25,000 Territorians are waiting in line for the chance to snap up a coveted Territory tourism voucher, the department has revealed, as those lucky enough to score one run out of time to book a trip before deadline.
The second round of the NT government’s tourism voucher scheme, worth $5m, was released on November 3 and snapped up so quickly the website crashed after failing to handle 10 times the expected online traffic.
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The vouchers, worth up to $200 matched dollar for dollar with a Territorian’s own spending, have to be put towards a tourism experience like tours, accommodation, hire car or recreational fishing charter.
Designed to incentivise people to explore their backyards, the latest round of the highly popular stimulus measure also allowed Territorians to claim up to $400 if they booked a holiday more than 400km away from their home
An initial burst of 12,000 vouchers were released in three batches, with vouchers due to expire between November 18 and Monday, November 23.
The NT News can reveal the wait list is twice as long as the number of vouchers released, with a total of 25,491 Territorians hoping to pick up the scraps of vouchers people don’t fully redeem or fail to use before the expiry date.
Tourism NT data shows that as of last Sunday a total of 3342 vouchers with an average spend of $175 had been redeemed.
This equates to $584,850 being used up out of the $5m funding pool.
An additional 264 voucher holders had registered themselves for the extra $200 available to those long distance travellers.
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Tourism NT general marketing manager Tony Quarmby said the number of vouchers that would become available for those on the waiting list remained unknown, as it depends on how many people cashed in on the voucher and how many applied for the long-distance bonus claim.
“This number will continue to vary as consumers continue to redeem vouchers throughout the day,” he said.
The third and final round of the tourism voucher program, worth $5m, will be launched in February 2021.
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