Flight Centre Travel Group says Aussie travellers will stand to benefit in the post lockdown world as new ranges of heavily discounted domestic holiday packages are released off the back of yesterday’s aviation and tourism support package.
Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT) managing director Graham Turner said the half-price domestic airfares that were being delivered via the Federal Government’s new Tourism Aviation Network Support (TANS) program and other heavily discounted fares that were being released would underpin attractive new holiday package deals.
“Assuming domestic borders stay open, domestic tourism is set to take-off in the coming months before international travel resumes,” Mr Turner said
“The good news for travellers is that the combination of heavily discounted fares and attractive accommodation will add up to incredible value holiday packages, as we are already starting to see,
Skroo Turner, Managing Director, Flight Centre Travel Group
“Virgin has today released its Getting The Party Started airfare sale, ahead of the TANS program’s launch on April 1, and Flight Centre is bringing the drinks by offering travellers who book these on-sale Virgin airfares a $50 accommodation voucher (subject to a $400 minimum spend on accommodation),
“Our people are already building holiday packages around the new fares and our vast hotel inventories throughout Australia to deliver even more value to travellers as they take off on their next domestic holidays,
Mr Turner, who is a director of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA), also welcomed further targeted Federal Government support for Australia’s travel agency sector.
He said the $130million COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program, (details still to come), would deliver a much-needed boost to the sector as it continued to count the costs of ongoing international border closures and changing domestic border policies,
“Travel agents typically rely on international travel and, accordingly, have been unable to generate meaningful revenue since governments globally elected to close international borders 12 months ago,
“Over this same period, travel agents throughout Australia have worked tirelessly to secure refunds or rearrange travel for their customers, while also dealing with frequent domestic border openings and closures.” He added.
Speaking about the role JobKeeper has played to date, Mr Turner said “JobKeeper has been crucial to saving jobs and providing a financial lifeline to thousands of people who have been stood down, but unfortunately it will end before the industry has had a chance to recover in a meaningful way. This is why this new initiative will be important in the near-term as it will ensure travel agents can continue to help their customers, while the industry prepares for the inevitable rebound when international borders reopen and as the states adopt a more unified approach to domestic borders.”
“This targeted Federal Government program will be a job-saver, particularly for smaller businesses, and we eagerly await details of how it will operate and who will be eligible.” He said.