Tourism Tropical North Queensland is offering $100 flight subsidies for interstate visitors to generate an extra 50,000 visitor nights over the next four months.
Chief executive officer Mark Olsen said the subsidy would be available from 11 July for travel before 20 November 2022 to help generate an additional $14 million in visitor spend for the regional economy.
“Interstate travellers booking on any airline with Webjet before 31 July are eligible for the $100 subsidy, although the campaign may sell out earlier as we anticipate there will be strong demand,” he said.
“Tropical North Queensland has enjoyed a bumper school holiday period with very strong visitation in waves over the four weeks, indicating that interstate visitors are returning after two years of low numbers.
“Airport passengers numbers reached more than 94,000 in the week starting 27 June when all eastern states were on school holidays, eclipsing the pre-pandemic level by almost 4000 passengers,” Mr Olsen said.
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“The industry has excelled at meeting this strong demand and we want to ensure the whole region benefits from strong visitation over the next two months until visitor numbers peak once again with school holidays.
“International visitors have started to trickle back, with the addition of direct flights from New Zealand and Japan this month, but we are still a long way from recouping the $1 billion international travel market for the destination.
“TTNQ will continue to aggressively chase domestic visitors to drive demand for accommodation and experiences across Tropical North Queensland.
“Forward bookings are strong through to August and our website traffic indicates people have been planning their holidays ahead of the school holiday periods with a record 257,000 users in May, including 95 per cent new users.
“We have seen many first timers arrive in Cairns this year and others who have not visited in more than a decade. And they have been wowed by the maturity of the destination and its extraordinary array of world-class experiences.
“This is bringing a new wave of advocates for a Tropical North Queensland holiday who realise that a week is nowhere near enough time to explorer the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s oldest rainforest and the accessible outback.”
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“Travellers are discovering that Tropical North Queensland is a sustainable luxury destination where they not only See Great, but Leave Greater.”
This project received grant funding from the Australian government, under the Recovery for Regional Tourism program administered by Austrade.
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