Albury's inclusion in any extensions of the government's half-price flights scheme would boost the entire Riverina and North East says Albury Industry Group's Hume and Riverina regional manager.
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Federal Transport Minister Michael McCormack has confirmed the government will review the scheme every month. More than 100,000 passengers signed up for the half-price tickets within hours of its launch.
The program forms part of a $1.2 million Tourism Aviation Network Support scheme and will initially fund 800,000 discount flights.
Only 13 regions - Gold Coast, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Mackay region, the Sunshine Coast, Lasseter and Alice Springs, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, Broome, Avalon, Merimbula, and Kangaroo Island - were included in the deal, which has come under-fire from NSW and Victorian based tourism bodies for largely ignoring the states.
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AI Group's Tim Farrah, based on the border, said including Albury in the half-priced scheme would provide a large boost to North East and Riverina tourism.
"Albury, and definitely through air travel, is a gateway to all the great things in the North East, wineries, snowfields and everything else," he said.
"It would be fantastic, it would really open up Albury as a portal so even more travellers have easy access to everything we have on the border."
Mr Farrah said after a dire 2020, the tourism and hospitality industries on the border have picked up since the New Year's Day border lockdown.
"It's a matter of building confidence," he said.
In a statement Mr McCormack said the program was designed to support areas "usually awash with overseas tourists at this time of year."
He said Albury air routes had been supported through the Regional Aviation Network Support program.
"The government will continue to review the program periodically as we have done so with all pandemic response measures to ensure the programs are fit for purpose," he said.