INDUSTRY sponsored charter flights may be the saviour of the Far North's struggling tourism industry in the wake of the Qantas-Jetstar cutbacks, Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said yesterday.

Mr Ferguson said he had held discussions with Tourism Tropical North Queensland centred around leasing planes for specific market charters in a bid to capture uncatered-for demand from Japan, China and India.

He made the comments after announcing $750,000 of the Federal Government’s $4 million tourism rescue package would be spent making Japanese travel agents aware of available charter flights to Cairns from Nagoya, Fukuoka and Tokyo.

"Market indications reveal there is a tourist demand for an additional 9000 seats out of Japan to Cairns on these services during a peak December–January period," Mr Ferguson said.

Based on the average Japanese visitor spend, the marketing support would turn into a $27.5 million injection into the Far Northern economy after the end of Qantas’s daily Tokyo flights and the end of Jetstar’s western Japan flights.

Mr Ferguson said marketing Australia through travel agents was the way to promote the destination and said this was where Jetstar failed to capture the western Japan market.

"This is where Jetstar made its mistake. They sought to sell in Japan like they sell in Australia – online,’’ he said.

Mr Ferguson will meet TTNQ officials at the end of the month, by which time they will have to tell him in which markets they believe the rest of the Federal rescue package money should be spent – China or India.

He suggested Cairns apply for money under the Federal Government’s Infrastructure Australia fund for future projects to ensure appropriate infrastructure requirements for tourism growth.

TTNQ chairman Stephen Olle said by funding charter activity and marketing charters "we give ourselves the opportunity to introduce ourselves to new markets and hopefully work those markets into long-term markets".

Mr Olle said the initiatives were important to the health of the tourism industry.

"We have not had a good year," Mr Olle said.

"The first quarter was slow; the second was very, very poor; the third quarter has picked up and the fourth is looking OK.

"It is a matter of the industry holding together for the rest of the financial year and moving into the next year."

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