Australian travel recovery lag: Hello world, we're open - so where the bloody hell are you?

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 1 year ago

Australian travel recovery lag: Hello world, we're open - so where the bloody hell are you?

By Ben Groundwater
Bondi Beach: Usually full of backpackers.

Bondi Beach: Usually full of backpackers.Credit: iStock

Not sure if you've checked social media lately, but everyone is in Europe. Maybe it's just the algorithm that's set to feed me images of things that will make me insanely jealous, but according to Instagram in particular, every single person I have ever come into contact with or paid any attention to is right now chowing down on spaghetti alle vongole on some Amalfi clifftop, or drinking Chablis in a French vineyard, or using all of my hard-won knowledge to tour the best pintxos bars of San Sebastian.

I don't hold it against them. It's just amazing to see that everyone is back out there again, and that they all seem to have gone to the same place. Do people realise Thailand is open? Has anyone even heard of Latin America?

Still, it's great that travel is back, and that so many people have the opportunity to do so many amazing things (in Western Europe). It makes me jealous, of course, but it also makes me very happy.

Everyone I know is right now chowing down on spaghetti alle vongole in the Amalfi or posting from some dreamy Western European destination.

Everyone I know is right now chowing down on spaghetti alle vongole in the Amalfi or posting from some dreamy Western European destination.Credit: Balate Dorin

And maybe even more importantly, it makes me look around Australia and think – OK, so where are all the foreign tourists visiting here? Where's the exchange? Where are all the British backpackers, the Germans, the Swedes, the Spaniards and the French? Where are the Brazilian travellers? The Argentinians? The Japanese? The Chinese?

It feels a bit like the travel floodgates have opened, but only in one direction. Talk to any person in a service industry in Australia right now and they will tell you how much trouble they're having attracting staff, how positions that would usually be taken by foreigners on working holiday visas are almost impossible to fill.

So, where is everyone? Do we have a problem?

The answer is: yes and no. We do have a problem when it comes to potential overseas visitors, particularly those who want to work here, securing visas. Wait times have blown out significantly, after the federal government chose to funnel money and staff into "keeping you safe" – ie, closing our borders during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – and away from the department that processes visa applications.

The new Labor government says it's making this a priority to fix, though the wheels are moving slowly. I know of a Spanish resident who was hoping to visit Australia last week on business; however, despite applying a month or so beforehand, her visa application was never processed. She didn't make it in.

Advertisement

Plenty of others on working holiday visas and other skills-based visas are having to wait months to have their applications processed. It's no wonder businesses are having trouble finding staff.

However, that's only part of the story. Coming to Australia on a visa right now is difficult. But if you're just coming here for a holiday and don't require a visa, the country is very much open.

Though there are hurdles for those people, too. Flights into Australia are expensive right now; they are within Australia, too. This country is generally seen as a pricey one all round, in fact, for foreign visitors, with accommodation and food and drink being especially prohibitive for some travellers who will find far better deals in South-East Asia.

Australia is a big country, too, and one that's far, far away from most people – this is a place that potential visitors want to dedicate months to, and to do that they need to plan a long way in advance. It's also winter down here right now, whereas it's gloriously summery and a lot of fun in the northern hemisphere. Plus, we were famously closed to the rest of the world for almost two years, and news of our reopening doesn't travel anywhere near as fast as tales of our dramatic closure.

And then you have to factor in the complete loss of Chinese travellers. That's a big hit.

There's something else to take into consideration, too: incoming tourist numbers aren't actually that low. In June this year we had 740,000 overseas arrivals (July data is yet to be released). That's almost exactly half of what it was in June 2019, pre-pandemic.

That's also essentially on par with departures, despite what Instagram may make you believe. In June this year, Australians made 890,000 departures to overseas countries. Again, that's almost exactly half of the June 2019 number, which was 1.8 million.

Arrivals are usually slightly lower than departures at this time of year. Both sets of numbers are about half of what they were before the pandemic, and are bouncing back in much the same way.

It may feel as if there aren't many tourists in Australia right now, and that on the flipside, every single Australian you know is swanning around the Amalfi Coast clutching an Aperol spritz, but that's actually not the case.

Travel is slowly, slowly getting back to normal. But we have a long way to go.

LISTEN: Flight of Fancy - the Traveller.com.au podcast

To subscribe to the Traveller.com.au podcast Flight of Fancy on iTunes, click here. To listen on Spotify, click here.

Join the Flight of Fancy community on Facebook

Sign up for the Traveller newsletter

The latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading