Payments to be made: Tehan

AUSTRALIA’S Tourism Minister Dan Tehan has today confirmed a request to Austrade that all remaining payments of the third round of the Consumer Travel Support Program (CTSP) be paid out by the end of the month.

“My hope is that they will be able to deliver on that and this is the request that I have put in, and they have told me that they will do it,” Tehan said while speaking with senior travel stakeholders on an AFTA webinar this morning.

However, the Minister tempered the news by reiterating that he would only be able to guarantee the pledge Austrade has given him if the Morrison Government is successful at the upcoming Federal election.

“I look forward to being able to hold them to account and make sure that this becomes a reality if we are successful [in re-election] on 21 May,” he said.

The comments follow confirmation in Mar that the latest $75.5 million tranche of the CTSP would be the “third and final” allocation under the scheme (TD 30 Mar).

The Minister also used the forum to communicate that the pandemic has highlighted the importance of governments supporting both the inbound and outbound travel sectors.

“This lesson has really hit home,” Tehan said.

“We do rely on outbound just as much as we rely on inbound for our visitor economy because we saw that without the outbound it makes it very difficult for us to be able to ensure that we have the aviation capacity for inbound.”

Tehan added that the shutdown also highlighted just how important travel is for the national psyche of Australia, with trips away being a need for people and not simply a want.

“I think people now really understand how important... the need to be able to take a break and get away on a trip,” he said.

“We saw this in the way people flocked domestically to get away when the opportunities presented themselves and over time we will see that again for international travel when confidence comes back as well.”