The government has allocated 120,000 travel vouchers, each with a $200 value, to help families get out and about and most importantly, to help revive the flagging fortunes of one of the states' most devastated industry sectors.

From today, 40,000 vouchers will be available in the first stanza of a scheme the government says should provide added incentive for 'Victorians to explore their beautiful back yard and support regional communities hard hit by bushfires, pandemic and other challenges this year'.

Travel must be completed between Saturday, December 12 and Friday, January 22, and the government expects the added incentive will deliver a much greater boost to accommodation and tourism businesses across the state, albeit in the peak summer holiday period.

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$28 million has been allocated to the entire Regional Travel Voucher Scheme, and for businesses doing it incredibly tough as a result of the pandemic, hopes are high that those lucky enough to receive a voucher spend up big.

Our state's economy needs monies like this to flow through the cash registers of businesses struggling to claw back their market share and their enterprise, after a year most would rather want to forget.

Victorians wanting to be part of the voucher scheme should note that a second instalment will be released from January 20 for travel between January 27 and April 1 next year. Then, on March 30, the third tranche of vouchers will be available for travel between April 6 and May 31.

To say Victorians have earned a break in 2020 would be an understatement of considerable proportions, but we need to have confidence in ourselves and in the way we are continuing to recover from the pandemic. More than ever, we need to support local businesses who play such an integral part in the communities we are all part of.

Reinvesting in our local economy has never been more critical, because when we do, we also invest in ourselves.

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