Called the Mayday Project, Glenn Millen has proposed a stimulus package to reinvigorate the Australian tourism industry. The idea basically is to give free fares to international tourists who agree to spend a certain amount of money in Australia’s hotels, shops and restaurants.
Exactly how that would be monitored is open to some question perhaps but Virgin have jumped onboard saying they think its a good idea.
Brett Godfrey, Virgin Blue’s CEO, said “It has the ability to make Australia a stand-out market. You have to do something out of the ordinary to get people’s attention.”
Asked if Virgin would be involved in the Mayday Project, Mr Godfrey said: “Sure we would be. I don’t see a lot of downside in it for the tourism industry at all. In fact, I see nothing but positives.”
Qantas on the other hand were less willing to commit their bottom line dollars to helping out the tourism industry – “We as a group believe that there are probably more effective ways to assist the local travel and tourism sector,” a spokesman said.
Then again, perhaps there are better ideas out there to stimulate the tourism industry. Maybe Qantas could suggest some.
