You might remember Scott Morrison and Michael McCormack appeared in front of Qantas’s planes and held a press conference last week to announce a $1.2m support package for the tourism industry that centred on half-price flights to tourism hubs to help the sector after jobkeeper ends.

So what’s happened since that photo-op? In the two days following the government announcement, data provided to the Guardian by online travel booking site KAYAK.com.au shows searches for flights to some of the 13 destinations where half-price flights would be offered surged.

Searches for flights to Broome – a destination with one of the most expensive base fares for flights – were seven times higher than normal, while searches for flights to Alice Springs rose by a factor of four.

Flights to Cairns and Launceston were searched for at triple the average rate, while searches for Hamilton Island/Whitsundays doubled.

In the week the package was announced, the Gold Coast – one of the eligible destinations – rose above Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne from the fourth most searched airport in Australia to become the most searched for destination on KAYAK. Broome also rose to be the 11th most searched for destination in that time period.

While the announcement led to increased interest in Broome and some of the Queensland destinations, search increases were less noticeable for other cities.

Only a slightly above average number of searches were recorded for flights to Merimbula, Burnie and Devonport, with none of these cities ranking in the top 20 searched Australian destinations in the week of the announcement.

The sector remains sceptical the package can fill the void the ongoing international border closure has created, with others claiming the government subsidies for half-priced flights will mostly help the aviation sector, not tourism operators.

Labor initially criticised the government for selecting 13 destinations in what it claimed were marginal seats, and state governments including New South Wales have called for more destinations to be added within their states.

You can find out more about the flights, and how you can take advantage of the half-price airfare offer the government is subsidising, here: