Australia border openings: Is Australia still a dream destination for backpackers?

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This was published 2 years ago

Australia border openings: Is Australia still a dream destination for backpackers?

By Ben Groundwater
Backpackers at YHA Sydney Harbour earlier this month after arriving in Australia on working holiday visas.

Backpackers at YHA Sydney Harbour earlier this month after arriving in Australia on working holiday visas.Credit: Michael Quelch

They're back! Tourists: real, genuine tourists, here in Australia for nothing more than a holiday, to simply enjoy themselves and enjoy our country, to spend their money, see the sights and then go home enthralled.

For two years, we have had no international tourists in Australia (unless you count all the sports stars and uber-rich who were able to swan in and out despite the border closure, but that's another column). A huge industry for Australia, worth tens of billions of dollars annually, just ceased to exist when international and state borders began closing in March, 2020.

Now, that has finally changed. The first flights carrying international tourists arrived in Australia on Monday, and the gates are open for more. Visitors will be coming in predominantly from the UK, India and the US to begin with, with more expected to venture here as the year rolls on. There will be luxury tourists, and there will be budget tourists, those here to relax and those here to work and play, travellers who will spread themselves around Australia and make their presence, however small to begin with, felt.

The question is though: what will those visitors find here? Particularly for young travellers, for backpackers and other budget travellers: what is left in Australia post-lockdown and border closure? Is there anywhere to stay? Is there anything to do?

I was up in Cairns this time last year – in a place that's traditionally a haven for backpackers and other international guests – and it was dire. Walking around the city, along Shields St, backpacker central, and shopfronts were boarded up all over the place. Backpacker travel agencies: closed. Adventure travel specialists: closed. Backpacker hostels: closed. Bars there were either shuttered or pretty much silent, and things haven't exactly gotten easier since then.

Now, visitors are going to come back to Australia, to places like Cairns, with their backpacks and their work permits and their desire to party, but will they find that we just shut up shop in their absence? I asked Paul McGrath, the CEO of YHA Australia, a leading provider of budget travel accommodation, and he said… yes. In some ways.

"There's been quite a few closures [during the pandemic], from a hostel point of view," McGrath says. "There's been quite a few properties that have sold up. Especially in capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne, a lot of operators have closed, have turned their properties into apartments. Quite a number of beds have left the industry."

McGrath says many small tour operators and travel agencies, the likes you used to see in the shopfronts in Cairns, have also disappeared during COVID-19.

"A lot of the day-trip and travel agencies have closed," he says. "Definitely. So that's going to have an impact. I think a lot of the larger operators have hung around, but it's the smaller operators who have closed and gone and done other things.

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"But, they may open again when the market comes back. That is probably not going to be until the end of the year – don't forget, the UK, Europe is going into their summer now, so they will probably hang around for that, and as it goes into winter they'll think about coming out to Australia."

It seems like the changes the pandemic has wrought on Australia will affect budget travellers more than anyone else. Higher-end visitors arriving over the next year or so will find that things are looking pretty good. There's been a spate of luxury hotel and resort openings over the last few years here, which is pretty impressive (or at least very optimistic) in the middle of a pandemic. There are flashy new properties in Sydney and Melbourne, revamped luxury lodges in northern Queensland and WA.

Backpackers, however, might find things are a little different: fewer hostels than there once were; fewer travel agencies; and fewer people with which to share their experiences. Still, that doesn't mean they won't have a good time – and they will definitely be welcomed with open arms.

"I think their overall experience will be better [than pre-COVID]," says McGrath. "Everybody in the tourism industry is so keen for them to come back – I think they're going to be overwhelmed with the energy and the enthusiasm that we welcome them back with.

"I don't think we're going to have a bed shortage, either. There are plenty at the moment. We just need all the international guys to come back. And there will be plenty of work for them when they do, too, they'll be flushed with opportunities."

Those "international guys" might find Australia has changed a bit in the last few years. We've become more obsessed with state-based identities since COVID-19. We've become more obsessed with state leaders, too. We're still in the throes of the pandemic, unsure about borders, unused to foreign accents, finding our feet again as citizens of the world.

We'll be happy to see tourists again. Hopefully, they'll be happy to see us as well.

Do you think Australia is prepared for the return of tourists? Will they be welcomed here? Will they have a good time? Do you plan to holiday in Australia this year, or overseas?

Email: b.groundwater@traveller.com.au

Instagram: Instagram.com/bengroundwater

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