Yahoo Finance REVEALED: Suburbs to get the free $100 dining vouchers first
Residents from Sydney’s Northern Beaches will be among the first to benefit from NSW’s $100 dining voucher scheme after the struggling area was added to the scheme’s pilot program.
Trials for the state’s ‘Dine and Discover’ scheme were supposed to begin in December 2020 in Sydney’s CBD and The Rocks, but this was delayed until the new year at the request of participating hospitality venues, which were booked out during the holiday period.
The pilot is now set to begin in February and has been expanded to the Northern Beaches and Broken Hill as well as Sydney’s CBD and The Rocks.
The Northern Beaches will be part of phase two of the pilot program.
From next week, the NSW Small Business Commissioner Chris Lamont will start working with this community to understand the impact on different areas of the local economy.
“The Dine & Discover program is designed to support small businesses by encouraging people to spend local,” NSW Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said.
“By including the Northern Beaches in the trial it will ensure we fast track stimulus spending at a time when they need it most.”
The program’s implementation will be informed by health advice, he added.
Businesses in the Northern Beaches area have been struggling ever since the region went into lockdown amid a COVID-19 cluster that has now ballooned to 149 cases.
According to the ID Community website, which gathers information on more than 250 local government areas across Australia and New Zealand, there are 56 suburbs under the Northern Beaches council area.
While the southern zone of the Northern Beaches were released from lockdown about a week ago, to rejoin Greater Sydney, the northern half of the peninsula will have to deal with the more stringent restrictions until 9 January.
Once the trial proves to be a success, the scheme will be rolled out across the entire state.
NSW’s $100 ‘Dine and Discover’ voucher scheme
Announced as part of NSW’s 2020-21 Budget, the $500 million scheme aims to boost the local economy by providing every adult resident in the state four $25 vouchers to spend on local hospitality and entertainment venues.
Two of the vouchers are to be spent on ‘dining out’, and can be used to purchase food at establishments like restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs.
The other two vouchers for ‘going out’, and can be used on entertainment, activities and cultural institutions, cinemas, amusement parks and performing arts.
You’ll need to have the Service NSW app to utilise the vouchers.
NSW isn’t the only state that has rolled out vouchers; Victoria and South Australia have issued vouchers to its residents to boost regional travel.
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