The Coalition welcomed the draft ACCC approval of the Qantas-Emirates partnership, saying the tie up between the national carrier and one of the world’s best airlines will provide significant in-bound tourism benefits.

By utilising the Emirates network in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Qantas can drive inbound tourism, particularly to regional Australia.

There will also be benefits for Australians wanting a one-stop journey to more than 70 destinations. Frequent flyers of both airlines will be the big winners with reciprocal rights  to earn and use points on both airlines.

Not only will Australians access 70 destinations via a single stop via Dubai, inbound tourists will have a choice of more than 50 Australian destinations.  The deal is therefore in the best interests of competition, passengers, and the Australian tourism industry.

Given Australia’s traditional source markets have been declining or seen comparatively little growth, international visitor arrivals from the Middle East and North Africa are important to the future of Australian Tourism.  We acknowledge the investment by Emirates at this time.

The Coalition also acknowledges Qantas’ is the single largest private contributor to tourism marketing in Australia, although for the foreseeable future funds will be diverted via State Tourism Organisations rather than via Tourism Australia.

“While today’s announcement is good news for international tourism, the sector is struggling under the weight of regulation and taxes such as the carbon tax.

 “Under Labor there is now a record number of Australians holidaying overseas – 139 million bed nights and 8 million trips per annum.  This far outstrips the 6 million inbound trips taken in the past year.