Residents of New South Wales frantically try to use the last of their Dine and Discover vouchers before it expires at midnight.
Key points:
- Over the past week, hundreds of thousands of residents have used the vouchers every day
- Demand was so intense that the NSW Service app crashed briefly last night
- The state government is considering how it can use the initiative in the future
The initiative, which offered people $ 150 in vouchers to spend on restaurant, art and tourism businesses, was presented to stimulate the state’s struggling economy at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said the adoption last week had been extraordinary.
“We’ve spent an additional $ 70 million over the last week, which is pretty good,” he said.
“The catch is usually about 40,000 a day; now it’s 400,000 a day.
“It’s going through the roof.”
Independent cinemas and tour operators are among companies across the state that have reported a rush of customers to use the vouchers.
Victor Dominello says the waltz scheme could be localized to help troubled areas in the future. (ABC News: David Maguire)
The system fails
The NSW Service app crashed briefly under the weight of demand Wednesday night.
“It was about 15 minutes that the service was down, so I apologize unreservedly for that,” Dominello said.
“The program has been running for about 485 days and there have been about 23 hours in which the system has had interruptions.
“So it’s inconvenient, but given the length of the program, I hope people understand.”
Dominello said the initiative had been so successful that the government was considering ways to re-implement it in the future.
“For example, if there is a fire in a certain area, we can, hypothetically, issue vouchers just to spend them in that area,” he said.
“It can be so objective … and I think that should be the way forward.
“Treasury says this is a good way to achieve a multiplier effect for the economy and, more importantly, to target those companies and sectors that need it.”
NSW was the only state to launch vouchers using QR codes.
A NSW Service spokesman said customers could redeem a Discover voucher before the June 30 deadline and use it for an activity scheduled beyond the deadline, as long as it was booked at the time of the Discover. exchanges.
Dinner vouchers cannot be prepaid or booked for dates after June 30th.
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