Live on the NSW North Coast and looking forward to half-priced airfare to a holiday destination this year? Prepare to be disappointed.

 

On 11 March 2021 Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced 800,000 "half-price" airfares to get Australians travelling across 13 key tourism regions, the Gold Coast, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Mackay region (Proserpine and Hamilton Island), the Sunshine Coast, Lasseter and Alice Springs, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, Broome, Avalon, Merimbula, and Kangaroo Island.

According to Morrison’s media release, the discounts will be off the average fare and will be available on airline websites from 1 April.

This wording suggests that the discount on airfares might not be 50 percent of the price of a ticket.

Media reports suggest that the booking period is four months long, ending on 31 July and it appears the scheme allows flights to be booked as far ahead as December 2021.

However, these discounted fares will only apply to flights out of capital cities according to this breakdown in The Guardian on 11 May 2021:

Thirteen Australian locations are eligible for subsidised half-price flights as part of the government’s push to boost regional tourism. 
Photograph: The Guardian

Sydney: flights to the Gold Coast, Cairns, Proserpine, Hamilton Island, Maroochydore, Uluru, Alice Springs, Launceston, Broome and Avalon.

Melbourne: flights to the Gold Coast, Cairns, Maroochydore, Alice Springs, Uluru, Launceston, Devonport, Burnie, Broome and Merimbula.

Adelaide: flights to the Gold Coast, Maroochydore, Alice Springs and Kangaroo Island.

Brisbane: flights to Alice Springs, Uluru and Launceston.

Darwin: flights to Cairns and Broome.

Perth: flights to Alice Springs.

Avalon: flights to the Gold Coast.

Even if people living in north-east NSW drove to Brisbane, the only destinations they would be offered under Morrison’s scheme are Alice Springs, Uluru and Launceston. If people caught a full-price flight from Ballina Airport to Sydney they would be offered Gold Coast, Cairns, Proserpine, Hamilton Island, Maroochydore, Uluru, Alice Springs, Launceston, Broome and Avalon.

For most there is no hope of using a discounted ticket to holiday with or near family.

As for tourism operators from Clarence Valley to the NSW-Qld border – this scheme offers them nothing.