There was a "crazy" rush over the last week to use the NSW government's Dine and Discover vouchers, but about 77,000 vouchers in Albury, worth nearly $2 million, were not redeemed.
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According to a NSW government spokesperson, in the council area of Albury 212,459 vouchers were created and 135,368 were redeemed, inserting about $3.3 million into participating businesses. However, 77,091 vouchers, worth $1,927,275 were not used.
Regent Cinemas Albury general manager Kelly Davis said people had left using their vouchers until the last minute.
"Last weekend was our biggest week for Discover redemption and then just pretty much every day (this week) we had lines out the door," she said.
"The vouchers redeemed (on Thursday) in one day were the vouchers that were redeemed in a week last month, that's how crazy it was and that was probably for the last three days!
"The phone rang off the hook, we couldn't even keep up with phone calls because we had so many people in front of us."
The phone rang off the hook, we couldn't even keep up with phone calls because we had so many people in front of us
- Kelly Davis
Ms Davis said the cinema had sold out of their own gift cards and vouchers, and the demand had been stressful for staff.
"Ninety-seven per cent of customers were fantastic, understanding they're the ones who left it until the last minute to come in," she said.
"They've had 15 months to redeem them, but certainly the last minute was very overwhelming for all the staff and everyone here, because it was very demanding.
"Now there's so many vouchers out there that they've got 12 months to use, and I hope they use them because when they use them to see movies, that's when the support hits our business."
IN OTHER NEWS:
In Greater Hume, 36,000 Dine and Discover vouchers were created, but nearly 16,000 went unused.
Federation Council area was similar with about 42,000 vouchers created and nearly 19,000 going unused.
Across Albury, Greater Hume and Federation the total value of the unredeemed vouchers was nearly $2.8 million.
Ms Davis said overall the Dine and Discover vouchers were a positive experience.
"When it first came out it was such a wonderful initiative from the government to bring people back to the movies," she said.
"Especially when we'd been renovated, it really supported everyone coming back in and the movies restarting.
"I can't say enough how that initiative throughout the state would have impacted everyone ... and the payment process with them reimbursing the money for the vouchers that have been redeemed has been seamless."
Ms Davis said the process of setting up for the voucher was "new", but the initiative had been a "phenomenal effort".
"We just wished everyone didn't leave it to the last minute," she said.
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