REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday, August 20, 2009

IT was believed Gold Coasters would soon be able to fly to New Zealand for less than $100 and without a passport, under an agreement that treated our transTasman neighbours as another domestic destination.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was expected to announce that travel between both countries would be streamlined, possibly including the scrapping or reduction of departure taxes and the current strict border controls.

The Prime Minister’s office remained tight-lipped about the announcement but NZ Prime Minister John Key was quoted as saying “travel to Australia could be as simple as a domestic trip”.

It would effectively have meant the end of long queues at customs or the need for a passport for citizens of both countries, making travel to NZ as simple and as cheap as skipping across to any other Australian city.

Flights as cheap as $128 between the Gold Coast and Auckland were already available, but a relaxation or scrapping of departure taxes would mean they were slashed even further.

It was believed it would be a huge boost to tourism on the Gold

Coast, which already attracts more than 200,000 New Zealand visitors a year.

The new union would also mean Australia and NZ could band together in joint-international marketing campaigns, luring European, US and Asian travellers to experience our beaches and their ski slopes.

Convenor of the Tourism Futures national conference which was being held on the Gold Coast, Tony Charters, said given New Zealand’s hugely successful ‘100% Pure’ campaign combining the strength of Australia’s offering would make travelling to the region irresistible to many.