When our borders were shut we were told travel was not a necessity; our jobs were not essential. And perhaps had travel not been taken away from us we might have continued to take it for granted, to scoff if someone tried to pass travel off as one of life’s necessities.
But travel was taken away and now Australians are taking it back. In droves. That’s good news for travel advisors.
Aussies “spend more money on international travel than white goods, petrol, cars”, Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) chief executive Dean Long said at the Express Travel Group (ETG) Reconnect 2022 event in Melbourne last week.
In fact, travel was actually Australia’s largest importer – of any goods or services – accounting for “11 per cent of total imports”, he said.
“Seventy per cent of that is through you. How freaking impressive is that?”
“Think about that for a second. Seventy per cent of Australia’s largest imports is booked through Australian travel businesses.”
There, dear readers, is proof positive that you are essential. Economic proof, no less.
But travel, unlike a dishwasher, is essential in other ways. Granted, you aren’t going to literally keel over if you don’t book that next holiday or work trip, but think about what a travel-less life would do to your mental and indeed spiritual survival.
Whatever the reason, be it the human impulse to move, a need to explore, reunions, or just the urge to break free from the routine of the everyday, travel, at least for a large portion of the population, is fundamental to life.
Link between shut borders and global tensions?
Long suggested that travel’s inactivity during the pandemic may have more to do with rising global tensions than most think.
While the Great Period of Inertia may not have directly caused any conflicts, a case could certainly be made for the existence of a link between shut borders (and thus no travel) and global instability.
“Isn’t it interesting that when you pull back a little bit and you have a look at some of the really big issues that we’re dealing with as a country, in the Pacific, where we’ve got competing tensions; whether you look at Europe with competing tensions; at that exact time when people stop travelling and stop connecting, global instability hit,” the AFTA boss said.
“There are linkages there, which we need to learn from about the really important role that we play.”
Karryon attended ETG Reconnect 2022.
Visit aft.com.au and etg.travel for more.
