Outback Qld Tourism urges residents to holiday out west to support towns hit hard by flood event Qantas announces major sale
Residents are being urged to support outback towns by holidaying in western Qld to inject much-needed funds into the local economy. Here’s what’s on — and the cheap way to get out there:
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Australians should ditch the beach for their next holiday and head to western Queensland towns like Longreach, Roma, Barcaldine and Charleville, in a bid to help support rural communities devastated by widespread flooding.
Outback Queensland Tourism Association has launched its flagship campaign Big Skies, Bigger Adventures, promising a vast array of permanent attractions and seasonal events for families.
It has been coupled with Qantas announcing a flash sale of cheap flights to major regional Queensland destinations from either Brisbane or Sydney, including Toowoomba, Longreach and Mount Isa for as low as $129.
The launch comes as towns and communities count the cost of horrendous flooding that killed thousands of head of livestock and destroyed major infrastructure.
But OQT chief executive Denise Brown, whose organisation covers 19 local government areas from Roma to Birdsville and up to Mount Isa, said the major threat to tourism operators wasn’t any natural disaster — it was fear of it by potential visitors.
“The TV media has been difficult to manage in that it has shown great expanses of water and flooding and that has made a lot of people either rethink their travel plans for Outback Queensland and either cancel or postpone to later in the year,” she said.
“We’re really encouraging people that the main artery of the Matilda Highway is ready and open for business.
“There is no flooding anywhere along that route, except for between Cloncurry and Kurumba. “If you’re not flying in, you can actually drive and you can get to all sorts of places along the Matilda Highway and if tourists don’t continue to support us it’s a big threat to our industry.”
Ms Brown said along with the mainstays in Longreach like the Qantas Founders Museum and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame or Blackall’s Wool Scour, visitors should consider a trip to the Eromanga Natural History Museum to support a community hit hard by the floods.
“Those Qantas flights are particularly focused on Blackall, Barcaldine, Longreach and Winton and then Mount Isa so you’d be building itineraries around those locations and that’s the opportunity to see the amazing Blackall Woolscour and to enjoy Tambo,” she said.
“You’ve got Longreach and Winton where you’ve your amazing world-class museums and none of those have been affected by any rain.
“The Eromanga Natural History Museum is one of our furthest museums from the sea in both directions from the South Australia border and from the Queensland border and that’s open, ready and willing to serve tourists.”
Ms Brown said region also had a litany of major events on the calendar between now and November, including the Barcaldine Goat Races, Muttaburra Sheep Races and Dino Dash, the Blackall Billy Cart Races, and the Winton Outback Festival.
“Of course this weekend is Roma’s Easter in the Country, which is the perfect opportunity to kick off the season and kick off Easter and it’s fully sold out – Roma is on fire this week,” she said.
OQT is also giving away $5000 in travel vouchers to encourage families to plan their next holiday out west.
For more information, head online to www.outbackqueensland.com.au.
Cheap flights as Qantas unveils Queensland mega-sale
Flights between Toowoomba and Sydney will cost just $129 one-way and from Brisbane to Longreach will be just $179 with Qantas — but only for the next three days.
The airline giant has included Wellcamp Airport in its massive snap Queensland sale, which covers selected dates between May 19 and December 10.
With flights between the Garden City and Sydney costing between $340 and $510 one-way currently due to extremely high demand, the sale represents a saving of between 60 and 75 per cent.
It means a couple can fly to the Harbour City for the weekend for just $520 — a trip that would normally cost up to $2000.
Airport general manager Kellie Banditt urged residents to lock in their flights before the sale ended on Wednesday evening.
“If people don’t book early, you’re going to miss out,” she said.
“You can’t even get seats currently, so it is definitely worthwhile to book in advance.”
Ms Banditt said the sale also presented an opportunity for Qantas to look at expanding its number of flights from Wellcamp, saying the demand was clearly there for both business and leisure travel.
“This is where we put the challenge (to airlines) — we need bigger aircraft or more flights,” she said.
“It needs to be noticed that Wellcamp is being used, we want to use these airlines and we know for them it would be a good choice to expand services.
“We’re sitting at a minimum of 85 per cent capacity for all flights — the people of Toowoomba are doing their part, the proof is in the pudding, so the next step is they need to get on-board with more destinations and flights.”
The sale comes at a time when southwest Queensland communities are counting the cost of devastating floods that have killed thousands of animals and heavily damaged infrastructure and property.
Queensland Country Tourism chief executive Peter Homan said operators out west would love to see a boost to the fly-in market as their peak tourism season approached.
“They always come out through our area, so we’re a net beneficiary — the outback always benefits from that drive market to Darwin also because they tend to go through Queensland,” he said.
Qantas Domestic CEO Markus Svensson said the discounted fares offered excellent value for customers looking to visit some of Queensland’s most spectacular destinations.
“Queensland destinations are among the most popular on our network each year, with the state’s stunning coastline and mix of adventure, entertainment and leisure making it a firm favourite for family holidays and long weekend getaways,” he said.
To book cheap flights, head to the Qantas website before 11.59pm on Wednesday, April 16.
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