Minister for Tourism and Major Events, George Souris, today welcomed the arrival of Asia's newest long-haul budget airline, Scoot, as its worldwide inaugural flight touched down in Sydney.
5 June 2012Mr Souris said Scoot chose Sydney as the first destination in its evolving pan-Asian network ahead of strong competition from Victoria and Queensland.
“Sydney welcomes Scoot and the first group of passengers to travel on this new service. Scoot’s decision to choose Sydney as the first destination in its growing network consolidates Sydney’s position as Australia’s only global city.
“The NSW Government, through Destination NSW, secured Sydney as the first destination in Scoot’s route network to open up Australia’s most visited State to more travellers from Singapore and across Asia, boost international tourism and grow NSW’s visitor economy.
“The daily Scoot service will inject $146 million into NSW every year and moves us closer towards the NSW Government’s goal of doubling overnight tourism expenditure by 2020,” Mr Souris said.
Destination NSW CEO, Sandra Chipchase said Destination NSW’s strong partnership with Sydney Airport and Tourism Australia has been critical in successfully securing Sydney as Scoot’s first route.
“Destination NSW is delighted to have the opportunity to work with Scoot to market Sydney as a top destination of choice in Singapore, and potentially, across Asia.
“Last year, more than 84,000 visitors travelled from Singapore to Sydney, spending a total of 1.4 million nights in the State, with most visitors coming here for either business or for a holiday.
“And as Scoot’s network expands to more destinations such as Bangkok in Thailand and Tianjin in China, the opportunities for travellers to experience Sydney and New South Wales will also grow,” Ms Chipchase said.
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