CANBERRA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Australians could be incentivized to take domestic holidays under a government support package being designed for the tourism sector.
Simon Birmingham, minister for trade, tourism and investment, told The Guardian on Saturday that the assistance package would aim to offset the revenue loss from international tourists with Australia's border likely to remain closed until 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the devastating impact that the "Black Summer" bushfire crisis had on Australia's tourism industry.
According to Birmingham, Australians spent 65 billion Australian dollars (44.4 billion U.S. dollars) on international travel in 2019 while international visitors spent 45 billion Australian dollars (30.7 billion U.S. dollars) in Australia.
He said that if Australians could be incentivized to spend two thirds of what they did overseas in 2019 domestically then "you would have the same level of expenditure happening in Australian businesses."
"Now whether we can actually get people to do that, whether it is in the right places and the right regions and the same business is part of the challenge, and what we are working through right now," Birmingham said.
However, he said that in order for the tourism sector to be revived all domestic borders must be re-opened.
It comes as the Northern Territory (NT), which has announced a border re-opening date of July 17, launched a new national tourism campaign.
The NT has been the most successful Australian jurisdiction in preventing the spread of COVID-19 having eradicated the virus.
Andrew Hopper, acting chief executive of the NT Department of Tourism Sport and Culture, said that the campaign targets Australians "who have travel credits, cabin fever and the desire to escape the winter weather in the southern states."
"As an industry we have been waiting for this moment when our borders reopen," he told News Corp Australia.
"We are thrilled and absolutely ready to now answer the call of the many Australians, looking for an escape to the warmer climes of our regions."
"It will not be an easy road ahead for the sector, as we enter an extremely competitive market and continue to work closely with health officials to best manage the COVID situation." Enditem
