While its borders are still closed to foreigners due to Covid-19, Australia intends to relaunch its tourism. For this, the government will offer tickets at half price to Australians to allow them to discover their own country. Thirteen destinations are offered, such as the Great Barrier Reef, the sacred site for the Aborigines of Uluru and the beaches of the Gold Coast. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that his government will spend 1.2 billion Australian dollars (778,000 euros) to subsidize some 800,000 plane tickets to areas far from large cities and “heavily dependent on international tourism”.
Australia’s external borders have been closed for a year to protect the whole country from the new coronavirus. At the beginning of March, this measure was extended for three months. Before the pandemic, international tourism accounted for around 45 billion Australian dollars (30 billion euros) each year. A vast employment assistance plan has saved millions of jobs across the country for a year, but it is due to end at the end of March.
A welcomed initiative
Thousands of people working in the most affected sectors, including tourism, fear finding themselves unemployed. These half-price tickets will be offered from April, with the government and Australians hoping to help support the sector. The initiative has been praised by struggling airlines Qantas and Virgin Australia, while other industry players deem it insufficient. Scott Morrison said the program will make a “transition to a more normal way of life for Australians”, adding that the tourism sector “does not want to depend on government support forever”.
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