The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, has welcomed Tourism Australia's support for a new Channel Seven TV series No Leave, No Life, which goes to air this weekend and will enable Australian workers to see how they can benefit from taking an Australian holiday.
Tourism Australia launched the No Leave, No Life program earlier this year to encourage Australians to use their 123 million days of accrued leave entitlements and to holiday in Australia.
More than 725 businesses with potential reach of more than 800,000 employees have so far registered to use program materials.
The No Leave, No Life TV show is a seven week TV series, which will air on Seven Network at 6.30pm on Saturdays.
The TV show has been produced by Endemol Southern Star, which was inspired by the No Leave, No Life campaign to create a TV series with Channel 7. Tourism Australia is supporting the show as it presented a unique opportunity to encourage Australian workers to unlock their leave and use it to holiday in Australia.
The first episode will air tomorrow night and then each week through to 16 January 2010.
Minister Ferguson said: "At a time when the Australian tourism industry is dealing with a strong Australian Dollar, the timing of this extension of the No Leave, No Life campaign into a new medium is very welcome.
"With the summer holiday season fast approaching, I encourage all Australian employers and employees to better manage annual leave entitlements and take an Australian holiday. Stockpiling annual leave is bad for employees, businesses and the Australian economy and I am pleased to see that this program is raising awareness of this issue.
"Accrued leave in Australia is worth $33 billion in wages and if even a small proportion of this is converted into domestic holidays, then the economic benefit to the Australian tourism sector and the wider economy, will be very significant."
For information on the No Leave, No Life program, visit: www.noleavenolife.com.