Melbourne locals Erin Watkins and Mick Porter are among hundreds of people stranded in the Northern Territory due to a high volume of recent flight cancellations by Qantas and its budget subsidiary Jetstar.
After coming to Darwin for what was supposed to be a week-long visit, Melbourne locals Erin Watkins and Mick Porter are still stranded, almost a week after they were supposed to fly home.The tourism industry is worried about the "reputational damage" the cancellations are doing to the NT as a tourist destination"I was a bridesmaid for a wedding on Friday and then the reception part was on the Sunday and I missed both of those," Ms Watkins said.
"When we realised it would be a whole other week we were quite stressed because we were really worried about our jobs.""We're just very lucky that we had somewhere to stay up here," Ms Watkins said.Tourism Top End General Manager Glen Hingley said other tourists had not been as lucky, and had been scrambling to find last-minute accommodation or alternative transport with limited assistance from the airlines.
"It shouldn't be up to the team at the Darwin Visitor Information Centre and hotel desks and tour companies and attractions to [have to deal] with these challenges."Mr Hingley said he was concerned about the "reputational damage" that the cancellations have done to the Northern Territory as a destination for tourists.
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