Qantas offers to pay for Americans' passports if they fly to Australia

There could be an influx of American tourists thanks to a new Qantas campaign offering US travellers a "free passport" to travel to Australia. The airline is offering American travellers a $US135 ($173) discount (or the cost of a US passport) off the price of their next ticket to Australia flying with the airline. It's estimated that only 40% of Americans hold a valid passport. The campaign is aimed at bringing more US travellers to Australia and position Australia as the next international holiday destination for Americans. Australia welcomed more than 8m international visitors in the year ending June 2017; 753,000 of whom were from the US. "Australia is in the top five destinations Americans would consider travelling to in the next four years, yet more than half the population do not hold a valid passport," Qantas chief customer officer Olivia Wirth said. "As Australia's national carrier, we are proud and excited to share all that Australia has to offer – and with this campaign we are keen to help boost tourism to our cities, towns and regional areas at the same time."<br/>