Today the Premier announced the largest regional aviation deal in our State’s history, with more than 50,000 affordable airfares to the North West over the next 12 months.

Derryn Belford Acting Managing Director, Tourism WA said “We’re proud to lead this partnership with both Virgin Australia and Qantas, to further encourage West Australians to explore our incredible State.”

Through this partnership, Virgin Australia will be offering airfares between Perth and Broome from $199 one-way ‪between November 2, 2020 and October 30, 2021‬, or to Kununurra from $249 one-way ‪between March 29 and September 30, 2021‬.

These flights sold out within a week when a similar sale was offered through a Tourism WA partnership in July.

Qantas will be offering one-way fares between Perth and Exmouth from November 2020 for 12 months, priced at $149 one-way during low season (‪October 25 – March 27‬, when booked 30 days in advance), and $169 during high season (‪March 28 – October 30‬, when booked 45 days in advance).

This is not only a great opportunity for city-based residents to travel to Broome, Kununurra, Exmouth and the surrounding areas, but also for North West locals to come into Perth and explore the city, providing a great economic boost for both regions.

I know many of you have been waiting on an update regarding the Tourism Business Survival Grants Program. If you applied for the program, you will receive notification on the result of your application via email today.

We received an incredible amount of interest in this program, with 574 applications submitted. As a result of the assessment process, 266 tourism businesses across the State will receive a share of $8.64 million in funding support. This amount is more than double the original allocation of $4 million.

Awarding the grants was a highly competitive process and each application was assessed on the quality of their application, against the criteria.

Not everyone who applied has been successful, and some will receive less than they requested due to the high volume of applications, however, we’re pleased that grants will go to a range of businesses around WA.

This program was released to support tourism businesses that attract visitors to the State and are experiencing hardship due to COVID-19.

The grants will help tourism businesses to survive the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and give others the resources they need to focus on attracting domestic visitors and ensure they can continue to provide high quality tourism experiences.

A full list of successful recipients is available on our corporate website.

We know the best way for the tourism industry to recover is for local people to support local businesses and so we continue to encourage West Australians to wander out yonder.

Our A Million Reasons to Wander out Yonder voucher program is our most recent initiative. This promotion was tailored specifically for our tours and experiences, as this is an area we know has been suffering from a lack of interstate and international visitors. In little more than a week, there have been more than $300,000 worth of tours and experiences booked by locals, with just over 1,000 vouchers redeemed.

The latest regional aviation announcement, the allocation of funds for the Tourism Business Survival Grants Program and the launch of the Wander Vouchers are all significant milestones in Tourism WA’s support for our industry.

It’s also great to see people taking up the call to explore Perth city and surrounds, following our Perth Staycation campaign.

We are also dedicated to the roll-out of work across the State, following the recent announcement by the WA Government of $150 million to enhance tourism attractions and destinations.

We look forward to these and further projects, providing a welcome boost to businesses as tourism continues its recovery.

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