Premier Peter Gutwein says Tasmanians should not be concerned despite people having not yet received travel vouchers
The state government is blaming duplicate applications for the delay in Tasmanians receiving their travel vouchers, after 21,500 were dished out in less than 40 minutes. SEE WHEN YOU CAN EXPECT YOUR VOUCHER >>
Tasmania
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DUPLICATE applications have been blamed for the delay in Tasmanians being sent their vouchers for accommodation and tourism experiences within the state.
An audit was undertaken by department officials on Tuesday after instances of duplication were detected.
Tasmanians who secured a voucher were given a confirmation on Monday they were expected to receive it and a unique identifying code within 24 hours.
“Following the overwhelming response and uptake by Tasmanians, an audit process has been undertaken to avoid duplicates and ensure fairness for eligibility,’’ Premier Peter Gutwein said.
“This audit process has now been completed and all final confirmation emails are expected to be sent by [Wednesday] morning.”
The number of duplicate applications is not believed to be significant, but figures were not available on Tuesday night.
It comes after the $7.5 million pool of funding was exhausted within 40 minutes on Monday morning after Tasmanians rushed to secure a slice of the bonus money and the website was inundated with traffic.
About 21,500 vouchers, including family coupons, were issued and the state government expects about 60,000 Tasmanians to benefit from the initiative.
Mr Gutwein said he was “astounded” by Tasmanians’ appetite for the vouchers and said the government was considering a further tranche of funding.
But he said he was disappointed to hear reports of people attempting to trade or on-sell the vouchers, saying the program was designed to support the struggling tourism sector.
“They are not tradeable, they are not saleable, and at the end of the day you will need the unique identifier number and you will also need to demonstrate you are the person that booked or applied for the voucher,’’ Mr Gutwein said.
“Don’t get sucked in by somebody saying that you can purchase this off another individual. That just won’t work.
“If you don’t want the voucher, if you’re not going to use it, let us know and then it can go back into the pool and as we consider if there is a second tranche we can consider using those credits as well.”
Mr Gutwein praised Tasmanian tourism pioneer Rob Pennicott who on Monday night announced he would provide $1 million of vouchers to get locals on his cruise boats.
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