The Northern Territory’s Tourism minister says “all Australians have a social responsibility” to visit the NT, as new figures reveal visitation is struggling at the territory’s famed landmark of Uluru.

The Parks Australia data, seen by the ABC, shows Uluru visitation has stayed sluggish in 2023.

As Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park heads into its hot summer season and annual quieter tourism period, year-to-date visitor numbers are 164,678, compared with more than 300,000 in 2017.

The national park saw a massive spike in visitors prior to the closure of the Uluru climb, Parks Australia documents show, with 406,821 tourists travelling to the region in 2019.

In 2020, Uluru tourism figures plummeted due to COVID-19 border closures.

Now, operators say the remote region is struggling to claw back to its pre-pandemic visitor numbers.

Parks Australia said the subdued numbers are due to “cost and availability of flights, international exchange rates, increased competition as Australians return to overseas travel and the slow return of international visitors”.

Indigenous-run luxury tourism venture Voyages said the region was currently receiving “less than half the flights into Uluru than pre-pandemic” and that they were “working closely with our airline partners to resolve the recent further reductions” in flights.

Qantas and Jetstar, both of which are part of the Qantas Group, are the only airlines servicing Yulara Airport.

“Domestic and inbound demand is strong and Voyages has invested significantly in demand creation … however without aviation consistency, Central Australia will suffer in terms of tourism growth and employment opportunities,” a Voyages spokesperson said.

Minister urges Qantas to do more for NT

The NT’s tourism minister Nicole Manison said “Territorians aren’t getting the level of service they deserve” in relation to the choice and cost of air travel to Uluru.

She was asked if it was hypocritical of Qantas to be supporting the Uluru Statement from the Heart campaign while cutting flights to Uluru during the same period.

“I will say to our national carriers, you must be travelling to the Northern Territory,” she said.

Ms Manison also said there was a “social responsibility for all Australians to make sure they are travelling to the Northern Territory” to help improve economic outcomes for the jurisdiction.

Opposition NT tourism minister Marie-Clare Boothby said Australians were currently spoiled for choice on travel destinations, making it difficult for the NT to attract visitors.

“I think Australians want to travel all over Australia, but they need to be given a reason to come here, and that is for a great experience,” Ms Boothby said.

“We have the most amazing destinations here in the Northern Territory, but unless you can make those destinations safe, then people will not come here.

“And that is why we need to fix the law and order in our towns and in our regions, and then that’ll repair the reputational damage that we’ve had across Australia.”

Qantas says it remains committed to region

Qantas did not directly answer how many flights it had cut from the region in the past two years.

A spokesperson for the airline said: “Qantas and Jetstar remain committed to flights to and from Uluru, while our major competitor has pulled out of the market.

“There are plenty of available seats on the routes we operate to Uluru, but demand is well down on what it was pre-COVID.

“Some of this can be attributed to the slower recovery of international tourism to Australia since the pandemic.

“We are talking to local tourism bodies about how we can both work together to stimulate demand as well as discussing adding extra capacity at the right time.”

‘We are still very fragile’: Industry

Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said the last season’s lull has had an annual financial impact in the hundreds of millions.

“We’re about $200 million shy of visitor expenditure numbers,” Mr Rochford said.

“That statistic clearly shows that’s impacting the business community – that’s $200 million that’s not in the Central Australian tourism industry, that used to be there pre-COVID.

“So, we are still very fragile.”

Mr Rochford said he was optimistic about Qantas’s future in the region since the airline had replaced its chief executive officer, following the retirement of controversial former boss, Alan Joyce.

“We’re always keen to remind our national airline that the NT in Qantas stands for the Northern Territory,” Mr Rochford said.

“We’re hopeful that with the change of leadership … we hope we might see better days ahead.”

Qantas has announced it will resume four return flights between Cairns in Far North Queensland to Yulara from November, with the return of daily flights from Cairns in March 2024.

Qantas also runs services between Uluru and Sydney, while Jetstar has flights from Uluru to Sydney, Melbourne, and a seasonal service to Brisbane.