What a difference 12 months makes… Today marks one year since Australia’s international borders were reopened in NSW (hip, hip, hooray!) following their closure for nearly two years during Covid-19.
The reopening of borders was arguably the biggest step (but still just one of many) to rebooting overseas travel for Australians. In that time, pent-up demand (and just pure desire) has seen international travel get back to about half of pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
For the month of September 2022, ABS estimated over 1 million Aussies jetted off abroad, compared to just 90,000 in the first month after borders were reopened.
And though we’re still a while off from surpassing the 2.24 million departures we experienced in December 2019, 52 weeks on, we’re looking good.
“After two and a half years of hell, the positive change is palpable,” Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) chair Tom Manwaring told Karryon.
“Finally our industry is able to gear up for growth and success supported by great product, positive people and service delivering excellence. Bring it on!”
Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO) Managing Director Brett Jardine said a year on from borders re-opening, “we are seeing significant pent-up demand for leisure travel”.
“Despite current staff shortages and challenges associated with affordable air capacity, our members are preparing for some rewarding years ahead”, he told Karryon in an email.
Demand for travel advisors soaring
Australia’s biggest travel agency group Flight Centre just announced they would be reopening dozens of shopfronts following the forced closure of many of its stores during the pandemic.
In its 2021/22 full-year financial results, agency giant Helloworld announced a $90 million profit for FY2022 – and that’s just based on numbers to 30 June.
Elsewhere, TravelManagers said its “personal travel managers (PTMs) throughout the country were well prepared for the reopening of Australia’s borders, and consequently, the company has experienced several months of 2022 record trading”.
“With the pandemic reinforcing the value and security that our PTMs deliver to their clients, this has strengthened confidence in the long-term future of the Travel Managers business model, its support systems, network coverage and the professionalism of our PTMs,” TravelManagers Executive General Manager Michael Gazal told Karryon.
Meanwhile, the Australian Passport Office (APO) says it is now issuing an average of 12,000 passports a day to meet the demand for overseas travel and pre-requisite passports. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), this is up 30 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.
New data* from Webjet shows Australians’ top 10 international destinations since borders reopened are:
- Auckland
- Denpasar
- Queenstown
- Fiji
- London
- Christchurch
- Wellington
- Singapore
- Bangkok
- Manila
According to the data, New Zealand destinations make up almost half (42%) of all international bookings.
On the inbound front, the opening of Australia’s borders allowed tourism businesses to once again welcome visitors from abroad. In its latest market statistics, Tourism Australia data shows there were 384,000 overseas arrivals during the month of August, with 1.8 million visitor arrivals for the year-ending August.
*Data compares the period of 1 July to 30 September 2022 against the period of 1 April to 30 June 2022.
