Australia may offer free flights to tourists
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International tourists could be offered free flights to Australia in a bid to counteract the downturn in tourism, The Age has reported.
Under the plan, labelled the ‘Mayday Project’, visitors who take up the offer will be required to spend a specified amount of money within Australia, boosting local shops, hotels and restaurants. According to the report, the airfares, which would be offered at a discounted rate by participating airlines, would be paid for by the government.
The Mayday Project is the brainchild of Independent Tourism Holdings’ Innovation Director, Glenn Millen, who says the free flights, favourable exchange rates and the novelty of the promotion would position it strongly to succeed.
“We can really limit the impact of the recessionary slide on tourism through this,” Millen was quoted saying. “(But) we can try and hold the numbers that we were at and that would be a really good scenario or, if there is a Santa Claus, we might increase the numbers against the trend.”
The number of international tourist arrivals to Australia dropped 6.5% to 141,000 in 2008, and the figures are expected to slip further this year as the global financial crisis takes grip.
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