The chief executive of Visit Victoria believes a delay to the reopening of Australia’s borders for working visa holders is unlikely to be extended, as he voiced hopes that leisure travellers from core markets would begin to return in the first half of next year.
Speaking on his first visit to the UK since taking on his role in late 2019, Brendan McClements said there was a political desire to reopen and a commercial rationale to help address workforce shortages in areas including hospitality.
The Australian government recently announced plans to allow vaccinated skilled migrants, international students and working visa holders entry from December 1, before suspending the plans to December 15 due to the emergence of the Omicron variant.
McClements said there was “increasing synchronisation” between the Victorian, New South Wales and federal governments over the reopening and required Covid-19 protocols.
He told Travel Weekly: “Our leadership is committed to moving forward, and nothing in the emergence of this new variant has created a change to the political commitment to reopening.
“[The reopening] is a federal responsibility, but the states have been articulate and persistent in terms of moving that process forward as fast as is safe and possible.”
Explaining that he expected a wider reopening to be on a country-by-country basis, he added: “With the Victorian and New South Wales governments being closely aligned with the federal government, we would be hopeful that process would move forward in the next four to five months.”
McLements said research carried out by a range of sources including Tourism Australia suggested there was a strong opportunity to quickly rebuild visitor numbers from the UK due to factors including pent-up demand and the desire to spend savings accrued during the pandemic on “dream holidays”.
He also said the likelihood of a slow recovery of Australia’s core Chinese market would mean a greater focus on other source channels, with the UK chief among them.
McLements said work was ongoing to ensure there was sufficient airlift to meet demand and offer choice for potential customers, and said he was confident that every effort would be made to facilitate visa applications to avoid delays to the first stage of the reopening.
He also said meetings with trade partners in the US and the UK backed hopes for a rapid rebound for inbound travel to Victoria and Australia generally.
“This is not going to be a time to discount,” he said. “I have told our trade partners that we are confident the demand is there for travel to Victoria, and people will be prepared to pay for a premium experience they have been waiting for.”
He added: “There is going to be some friction in the travel experience for a while yet, so expert travel advisors are going to be valued more than ever.
“We are going to be investing in the UK and training our trade partners to ensure they are ready to take advantage of these opportunities.”
Barbara Samoilenko, Visit Victoria’s acting regional manager for Europe, confirmed plans for extended trade activity, including virtual sales missions on February 1 and 8 and hopes for the imminent return of in-person sales missions.
And she said Victoria was well-placed to attract visitors looking for premium experiences and the chance to “get away from it all”.
McClements added: “We think people are willing to spend a bit more on travel and we think the value perception is changing. It’s not just about price, there are elements such as safety which are playing an important role, so we think Victoria and Australia are in a very strong position.”