TOURISTS and locals will have more chances to reel in a lucrative barramundi after the Northern Territory Government announced today the Million Dollar Fish competition will be back for a second season.
The announcement comes after the official end of the inaugural season last night, which saw 10 prize tagged barramundi worth $10,000 caught across the Northern Territory over the last five months.
Chief Minister and Tourism Minister Adam Giles said the Million Dollar Fish competition had been a great success and delivered huge promotion for the Northern Territory around the world.
“We’ve had more than 43,000 people register for the competition from 62 different countries including 25,800 people from interstate and 14,600 Northern Territory locals,” Giles said.
“This was 33 per cent higher than our original target and a figure we hope to see grow further now we’ve announced a second season of the competition.”
“After our 10 $10,000 competition winners during season one, interstate anglers can travel up here with confidence that the tagged fish are real and can be caught.”
Mr Giles said the competition generated more than 200 media articles and the Million Dollar Fish website received over 26,000 visits a month.
“A Tourism NT registrant survey showed an estimated quarter of the 25,800 interstate registrants – roughly 6000 people – came to the NT and went fishing with the visitors mainly coming from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria,” he said.
“It was also great to hear that while in the NT, these holiday makers said they undertook sightseeing tours, visited Litchfield and went camping, providing further flow on benefits for local businesses.
“While official visitor survey data conducted by Tourism Research Australia is not currently available for the period of our Million Dollar Fish season, all our anecdotal feedback has been very positive.
“We’ll be running tourism promotions over the next few months to capitalise on the huge interest in the Million Dollar Fish competition, encouraging people who registered to book a holiday and stay, play and fish the Top End.”
Mr Giles said the competition generated spin-off benefits for local businesses with marine dealers reporting a boom in out-board motor servicing, servos selling more fuel and tackle shops reporting increases in business.
“Tourism NT research showed locals also loved Million Dollar Fish with 92 per cent of Territorians registered saying they would definitely register and fish in the competition again,” he said.
Highlights of season one included…
- Nathan Neave defying the odds to catch two $10,000 fish
- 10 fish caught from four different locations across the Top End (Darwin Harbour, Daly River, Corroborree Billabong and Bynoe Harbour)
- One fish caught without a boat (Kurt Bauman on the Daly River)
Registrations for season two of Million Dollar Fish will open soon, stay tuned to the website for more details.
