The tourism industry has taken a massive hit all over the world and Australia has been taking care of their tourism sector and has come up with the latest round of help financially for the tourism and airline sector. This support package comes with a huge price tag of 928 million Australian dollars. It will of course comprise of domestic tickets, business loans and subsidies to help the planes be kept in the air and airline workers their in jobs.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison claims that it will help bridge the gaps in the industry. Among measures announced on 11 March include the Tourism Aviation Network Support programme, which will see 800,000 half-priced tickets to 13 tourism-dependent regions — including Gold Coast in Queensland state and Broome in Western Australia — released, with the Australian government subsidizing ticket costs. These regions were selected, instead of capital cities, as they were highly dependent on international tourism pre-pandemic, and have seen visitor numbers evaporate amid travel restrictions.
There will also be extended funding of around 200 million that will be to the country’s 2 largest carriers which is Qantas and Virgin Australia so that they can maintain a core Australian international aviation capability. The funding, which comes under the International Aviation Support programme, will comprise a monthly payment to both carriers. This funding will cover areas such as pay for the staff and the cost of international fleets of the airlines and trainings. This subsidy is supposed to save up to 8000 international aviation jobs.
There has been indication that the international borders for Australia will be closed for the most part of 2021. This is also a reason that the country has decided to help the aviation sector, Following the footsteps of Korea who started the ball rolling by starting a programme earlier on in the year.
