'Free' flights make this a top time to visit the Red Centre

In Australia's Red Centre, many of the tourism businesses are in the red. For several years, Alice Springs has hit the news for all the wrong reasons, with stories of crime and violence putting off many potential visitors - even if the situation on the ground is not nearly as bad as it's being portrayed.

Now, it's just got worse. The Northern Territory already had an issue competing for domestic tourists because of notoriously expensive flights, but last month Qantas announced it's axing its Melbourne to Alice Springs route, just weeks after Virgin Australia said it's cutting its routes to Uluru from Brisbane and Melbourne.

This dire situation for the local travel industry has prompted the federal government to step in this week with a new support package. For everyday Aussies thinking about a holiday, the package's headline sounds pretty exciting: free flights to Alice Springs!

It's a little bit more complicated than that... but not much. What you actually get is a credit equal to the cheapest flight of that day (capped at $750), and it doesn't include your return flight. To qualify, you also have to book one of 20 holiday packages that all include at least two nights of accommodation in Alice Springs, a local attraction, and a guided tour departing from town.

For a lot of people, this will be a good deal. And a good excuse to visit Central Australia. For example, the cheapest package available is just $699 per person (twin share), which includes four nights accommodation and a day tour to some of the main historical sites.

I've always enjoyed my trips to Alice Springs. Something about the dry heat and the way the sun catches the ochre creates a little bit of magic. And there are more things to do here than maybe you realise. Starting where it all began for the modern settlement, at the Telegraph Station built in 1872 as a repeater for the line between Darwin and Port Augusta, you can see the historic buildings used by police and blacksmiths as the community grew around the station.

Then in town, the School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Service are both open to visitors, giving you a taste of outback life - the virtual reality stories at the RFDS even put you as a patient on an aircraft. And not too far away at the Kangaroo Sanctuary, Chris Barns (known as Brolga) will introduce you to the joeys that he's rescued after car accidents. About 300 young roos are brought here each year ("I'm a full-time kangaroo mum," he tells me) and although most recover enough to be released, you'll meet a few friendly adults that had to stay.

Kangaroos bound, while day trips abound. It's why one of the Alice Springs holiday packages gives you five nights accommodation, six days' car hire, and a bunch of tours for $2589 per person twin share. After you've seen the towering rock faces and glistening swimming holes of the West MacDonnell Ranges, use your spare days and rental car to explore the ancient red landscape dotted by palm trees at Finke Gorge National Park. Or you could head into the small settlement of Hermannsburg to see the historic Lutheran mission and meet some of the famous Hermannsburg Potters who paint ceramics with watercolour designs inspired by local icon Albert Namatjira.

But for many people, of course, Alice Springs is the gateway to Uluru. Once you've explored town for a couple of days, hit the road for the five-hour drive to the national park, stopping along the way at the Erldunda Roadhouse to see its cheeky emus. Once you're at the Rock, slow down. Whether you're self-driving or on a tour, the highlights here are when you're out of a vehicle, physically connected to the land. There's an energy I feel every time I visit, something spiritual that comes from the landscape. Yes, the scale of the massive sandstone monolith is what you first notice, but it's the small details that better tell the story - the shapes of the shadows, the flit of a butterfly, the calm amongst the acacia.

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Just a short drive along the road from Kings Canyon is Karrke, where Peter Abbott and his family run Indigenous cultural tours. I still remember him handing me two wooden music sticks to hit together and explaining that "the lighter you hold them, the better the tone". The reason I remember is because it perfectly captures the experience here in the Red Centre. It's somewhere that rewards you for letting go and letting the music make itself.

I hope these free flights to Alice Springs and some of the other initiatives in the tourism support package do help this region. And I hope more Australians get the opportunity to visit and see for themselves why it's so special. It's sad that cost is one of the main reasons people don't come, but perhaps this will help.