Residz Team 2 min read
Australia’s always been known for its “big things.” The big lobster, big banana, big prawn, and big Merino sheep (pictured) were built to lure tourists to towns across the country. Now, Australia is expecting big things from hundreds of thousands of tourists finally allowed back into the country.
Tourism Australia’s “Don’t Go Small. Go Australia” campaign is trying to win back a good chunk of the 9.3 million pre-pandemic visitors who spent 45 billion Australian dollars on our soil. Double-vaccinated tourists and their wallets get the warmest welcome through our newly opened border, and they join double-vaccinated skilled immigrants, international students, and working holiday travellers who made up 56,000 foreigners arrivals over the past few months.
Not only are tourists expected to spend up in tourism destinations, it’s hoped many will also pop on an apron and get into the restaurant kitchen or change the room’s bedding. More than 660,000 jobs are dependent on tourists arriving and spending, but a lot of employers also rely on international tourists themselves to fill those and other jobs.
SBS reported in mid-2021 there were up to 100,000 unfilled positions in the hospitality industry across the country, quoting Wes Lambert, chief executive of national industry association Restaurant and Catering Australia (R&CA).
Many industries and areas across Australia will be thrilled to see the return of working travellers. More available staff will be a boon for capital cities and regional areas alike, where unemployment has dropped under 4 per cent. They will pick, pack, and deliver foods to, and provide services for, all the remote office workers who swelled the populations of regional “lifestyle” destinations during the pandemic.
On the real estate front, international tourists may decide to ‘go big’ on their trip and apply for residency, which would impact population growth, and therefore house rents and real estate. According to the Scanlon Institute the forecasts from the Centre for Population show the (now stalled) growth will return from 2023-24.
There were 1.7 million temporary visa holders in Australia on 30 April 2021, and the Australian Government granted 140,366 skilled and family permanent visas in 2019-20.
An open border which swells the labour force may take pressure off wages, and the RBA governor did once say higher cash rates would be contemplated only when wages grew. All the same, banks have predicted rates will start rising mid-late 2022.
So, keep your eyes on the skies. Full-time flights for the Qantas A380 are slated to resume in March, according to Simple Flying, which also notes a new Aussie airline Bonza should be flying domestic routes by mid-2022.
The New York Times reports bookings jumped at the announcement of Australia’s border reopenings but booking volume was ‘modest’ compared with the equivalent week in 2019. It quoted one travel analytics expert saying they expected more confidence as the year progressed. It seems we’ve got to go small before we can once again go big.