The West Live: Regional towns brace for tourism boom as Jetstar kicks off limited cheap airfare sale

Regional towns in WA are bracing for an east coast tourism boom, with budget airline Jetstar offering flights from Melbourne to Busselton for an unbelievable $20.

The extraordinary one-way fare to Busselton is being offered as part of a one-day sale for Club Jetstar members, which ends at 6pm today and must be redeemed on flights taken between November 1 and December 13.

Other $20 flights include Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide into Perth, and back to those cities from Perth, although flights out of WA have already sold out.

In the State’s north, Broome is preparing for the imminent school holidays and an influx of West Aussie families wandering out yonder, as well as a flood of visitors from Sydney and Melbourne.

When the Morrison Government announced its $1.2 billion tourism and airline industry lifeline earlier this month, the pearling town was the only WA destination on the list of half-priced fares, and will surely prove hard to resist for east coasters looking for an exotic getaway.

Broome deputy shire president Desiree Male said the prospect of a tourism boom was a far cry from where the town was at this time last year, when the COVID lockdown hit.

“It’s chalk and cheese,” Ms Male told The West Live.

“This time last year we were facing a very dour future ... but this year, so far, things are looking up and everyone’s very excited.”

The McGowan Government has already introduced subsidised air fares to Broome from Perth, and Ms Male said the positive impact of that initiative was “very clear”.

Now, the Feds coming to the party from April 1 is the icing on the tourism cake (as long as the WA border stays open).

“We were very excited when we got that news, the Sydney to Broome and the Melbourne to Broome legs are very popular legs,” she said.

The deputy shire president said anecdotal evidence pointed to east coast visitors circling the Broome Cup in their calendar as an event they intended to be in the town for.