CANBERRA, March 22 (Xinhua) — Australia’s government has revealed a plan to lure tourists back to the country in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday announced an additional 60 million Australian dollars (44.3 million U.S. dollars) in funding to attract international visitors back to Australia following two years of border closures.

Of the funding, 45 million Australian dollars (33.2 million U.S. dollars) will be spent on a Tourism Australia marketing campaign for regional destinations hit hardest by the loss of international tourism, with the remaining 15 million Australian dollars (11 million U.S. dollars) to go towards promoting the iconic Great Barrier Reef to visitor

Australia’s borders reopened to fully vaccinated international tourists on Feb. 21 about 700 days after they were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“The return of our international tourism market will support hundreds of thousands of tourism jobs, strengthen our economy,” Morrison said in a statement.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the 2020-21 financial year, tourism gross domestic product (GDP) fell 37.9 percent in chain volume terms, the contribution of which to the country’s total GDP fell from 2.6 percent to 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, the tourism employed persons decreased by 20.3 percent to 507,000 people.

Due to border closures, the number of international arrivals in Australia fell from about 8.7 million in 2019 to 245,770 in 2021.

Dan Tehan, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, flagged further future support for the industry.

Australia on Tuesday reported more than 40,000 new COVID-19 cases and more than 20 deaths from the pandemic.

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