Federal Government announces new Tourism Support Packages

Tourism Australia webinar - additional brief on tourism package

In Tourism Australia’s webinar tomorrow, Friday 12 March at 11am AEDT, Austrade acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Kelly Ralston, and Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications Deputy Secretary, Christine Dacey, will give an update on the new tourism and aviation support package.

The other speakers will include Simon Hickey, Chief Executive Officer of Western Sydney Airport and Dr Nick Coatsworth, Deputy Chief Medical Officer.

Tourism support package

Today, the Federal Government announced a new $1.2 billion support package for the tourism and aviation industries. The package includes: 

• Tourism Aviation Network Support (TANS) program, which halves the cost of up to 800,000 airfares (or around 45,000 seats a week) to drive recovery in regions reliant on international tourism. You can read more about the TANS program below.
• Extending the $50.0 million Business Events Grants program by three months to support the events sector.
• Extending the $94.6 million Zoos and Aquarium program by six months, so that zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks maintain their animal populations.
• A further support package for travel agents, so they can continue to process refunds and hold credits for Australian consumers. More details on this measure will be announced shortly.
• In addition, the Small Medium Enterprise Loan Guarantee Scheme will be extended.

Tourism Aviation Network Support (TANS)

The TANS program will increase the number of flights on selected routes, creating a surge in tourism aviation capacity and reducing the cost of flying for consumers through discounted prices to those regions. Discounted tickets will be available from airline websites from 1 April 2021.

Travellers will be able to take advantage of discounted fares for interstate travel to regions impacted by the loss of international visitors and will be able to access the reduced ticket prices at the time of booking, rather than through a separate voucher or reimbursement system.

The discounted flights are for interstate holidays to destinations usually reliant on international tourism. These include:

• Lasseter and Alice Springs region in the Northern Territory
• Merimbula region in New South Wales
• Cairns, Gold Coast, Mackay, Sunshine Coast and Whitsundays regions in Queensland
• Kangaroo Island in South Australia
• Launceston, Devonport and Burnie regions in Tasmania
• Avalon in Victoria
• Broome in Western Australia

The discounts will be supported by Tourism Australia through targeted marketing activity as part of the Holiday Here This Year campaign, which aims to encourage Australians to book a domestic holiday. This activity will drive demand and bookings to the regions that need it most, as well as encouraging travellers to spend more by booking tours and experiences.