Holidaymakers have rushed to snap up the federal government’s half-price domestic airfares, with the tourism hotspots in Queensland attracting the heaviest traffic.
Australian Tourism Industry Council executive director Simon Westaway said given the public response the subsidy should be expanded to capital cities, where the bulk of tourism businesses are based.
Virgin sold 71,000 of its half-price tickets in the first 24 hours of them going on sale, posting its busiest days for domestic bookings ever. The airline said its five busiest routes were Melbourne-Gold Coast, Sydney-Gold Coast, Melbourne-Maroochydore, Cairns-Sydney and Adelaide-Melbourne. Qantas and Virgin were expecting to be operating at around 60 to 70 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic capacity over the Easter holidays prior to the Brisbane COVID-19 outbreak.