Travel agents across the mid-north coast will benefit from sharing in $130 million of additional funding support under round two of the COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program, which opens later this month.

Federal Member for Cowper, Pat Conaghan said that the support for travel agents now totals $258 million, to assist them in continuing to trade in such a difficult time.

“Around 3,000 travel agents have already benefited from round one of the support package, and have been able to continue to serve their customers albeit with significant travel restrictions being in place,” said Mr Conaghan.

“I encourage local travel agents to check their eligibility and apply for funding, and also urge our community to continue to support them by using their services when booking a holiday this year.

“This support for travel agents complements the $1.2 billion aviation and tourism support package which was designed to get domestic tourists spending, and follows the successful JobKeeper program,” Mr Conaghan explained.

Eligible travel agents and tour operators who have received a payment under round one may be entitled to a second payment, ranging between $7,500 and $100,000. To be eligible businesses must:

• Have been operating a travel agent, inbound tour operator or tour wholesaler business prior to the closure of international borders, and are continuing to operate that business;
• Have a turnover of between $50,000 and $20 million (or between $500,000 and $200 million Total Transaction Value) for the 2019 calendar year; and
• Have been in receipt of the JobKeeper extension (28 September 2020 to 28 March 2021).

To ensure equity, businesses found to have received a payment in round one that was greater than they would otherwise have received if the payments for round one and two were calculated on turnover, will not be eligible for a round two payment.

Further information is available at https://www.austrade.gov.au/australian/tourism/tourism-and-business/grants/covid-19-consumer-travel-support-program