Victoria's regional tourism voucher program is set to begin, in an attempt to kickstart tourism in bushfire and COVID-19 affected parts of the state.
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Households can apply from Friday for one of 120,000 vouchers worth $200 each, which will be rolled out in stages for travel until the end of May 2021.
The Minister for Tourism Martin Pakula expects the scheme to be very popular, especially the first stage, which is for travel between December 12 and January 22.
"I would expect demand to potentially outstrip supply, that's been experienced in other parts of the country," he said.
Households can register for the vouchers from 10 am Friday, and will receive the $200 after their trip.
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But tourists will have to spend a minimum of $400 on accommodation, experiences or tours in regional Victoria, as well as at least two nights in accommodation, to be eligible for the scheme.
"We're not handing out $200 up front, there's got to be some appropriate rigour in this for the state," Mr Pakula said.
Destinations in the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and the Bellarine will be eligible for the scheme, and households can apply even if their travel has already been booked.
The $28 million travel voucher scheme was announced in the state budget in November, as past of a $300 million tourism package, which also allocated money to upgrade infrastructure along the Great Ocean Road, and at Wilsons Promontory and the Grampians.
The tourism program kicks off as Victoria reached 41 days without a new locally-acquired coronavirus case on Thursday, and the state reopens to international travellers after one of the harshest lockdowns in the world.
You can apply for your voucher here.
There were no new cases acquired locally or overseas in the past 24 hours, the state government's Department of Health and Human Services said.
There were also no lives lost, with 11,625 test results received.
At least 405 international arrivals are now quarantining in Melbourne hotels since the state began accepting overseas flights again on Monday.
Of those, 24 are in a "health hotel" for people who have symptoms or other health problems.
So far six of the international travellers who have arrived in Melbourne have showed symptoms, but they returned negative tests on Wednesday.
Up to 1120 international arrivals are scheduled to land at Melbourne airport each week, with travellers sent to city hotels to quarantine for 14 days.
At Melbourne airport, international passengers will be transferred straight from the tarmac to buses, rather than letting them enter the airport concourse.
But interstate, a handful of travellers have slipped through the quarantine system.
Two German travellers who arrived in Sydney on the weekend were allowed to board a flight to Melbourne without quarantining in NSW, while it was also revealed another traveller from the US was able to skip quarantine in July.
Meanwhile, in a further easing of restrictions, border permits for South Australians to enter Victoria will be scrapped on Saturday.