• The second round of Victoria’s $200 regional tourism voucher scheme was exhausted minutes after launch on Wednesday morning.
• Those 40,000 vouchers will reimburse eligible Victorians who holiday outside of major city centres.
• The $28 million state government program was revealed last year in response to the business impact of the 2019-2020 bushfires and lingering border closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Victoria’s second allotment of regional travel vouchers was exhausted twenty minutes after launch on Wednesday morning, as would-be tourists again jumped on the state government’s popular reimbursement scheme.

Applications for the latest round of the Regional Travel Voucher Scheme opened at 10am AEDT, offering eligible Victorians $200 to cover the cost of accommodation, tours, and tickets to attractions away from major city centres.

To claim the vouchers, applicants must spend at least $400 on those experiences between January 27 and April 1, and provide receipts showing two nights of paid accomodation.

Victorians evidently thought they were up to the challenge, as The Herald Sun reports the full batch of 40,000 vouchers ran out around 10.13am.

Victoria’s Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions confirmed the first-come, first-served vouchers ran out minutes later.

Despite the application influx, the Business Victoria site appears to have avoided the worst technical difficulties experienced during the scheme’s first outing in December.

Extreme demand for the first 40,000 vouchers saw the website grind to a halt, showing error messaged to prospective holidaymakers and causing administrators to temporarily remove the application button.

A supplementary batch of 30,000 vouchers was made available days later. That tranche was also snapped up within the hour.

A third and final allotment of vouchers will become available on March 30.

The Victorian Government announced the $28 million scheme late last year, saying it would pump tourism dollars into regions “recovering from the devastating impacts of the 2019-20 summer bushfires and the coronavirus (COVID-19) travel restrictions.”

While the scheme has experienced full uptake so far, tourism industry figures state further federal intervention is required to counteract the business downturn caused by lingering border closures.

Speaking on “The Today Show” Tuesday morning, Tourism and Transport Forum Chief Executive Margy Osmond said Australia “won’t have much of a tourism industry left” without renewed taxpayer support.

Something for lucky holidayers to ponder as they barrel down the Great Ocean Road.

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.