Hey Folks, Know What’s New in the Australian Travel Industry!

Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic has left the Australian travel industry in dire straits amidst stringent border restrictions and widespread job losses. While the industry is moving heaven and earth to restore to normalcy, there is still a long way to go before the sector rebounds to the pre-pandemic stage.

Towards this end, some recent updates deserve a closer look in mapping out the sector’s future course of action.

As per the recently released modelling by Tourism Research Australia, COVID-19-induced travel curbs and border closures is expected to deliver a massive hit of $55 billion to the nation’s travel industry. The modelling assumed that the travel sector will lose at least $23.2billion and $31.4 billion amidst a decline in domestic tourism and overseas travel restrictions, respectively.

While these figures appear daunting, the recent reopening of some state borders and resurgence in domestic tourism are providing some sort of cushion to the hammered travel sector. Moreover, the plummeting COVID-19 cases in Victoria are again bolstering hopes of a potential travel bubble between Kiwi Land and Australia.

Do Not Miss: Potential Resumption of International Travel in Australia: A Subject of Debate

Amidst this evolving landscape, all eyes are glued to the developments sprouting in the battered travel industry, particularly around the impact of virus crisis and reopening of state and overseas borders.

With that said, let us quickly shed light on some notable developments in the Australian travel sector:

Tourism Jobs Slid Largest on Record in June

According to the latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the proportion of tourism jobs in the nation’s economy plummeted to 4.5 per cent in June 2020. This was the lowest proportion of tourism jobs registered on the ABS record. Besides, the tourism sector accounted for 13.8 per cent of job losses of the overall economy in June 2020.

The data also highlighted that the number of tourism filled jobs slid by 15.1 per cent in June 2020 quarter relative to June 2019 quarter, with filled jobs in the overall economy plunging by just 5.1 per cent. This was the lowest number of tourism filled jobs ever since June 2014 quarter.

ABS revealed that the tourism industry was the hardest hit by COVID-19 and bushfires than the economy as a whole. In Y-o-Y terms, total tourism jobs tumbled 18.2 per cent or 136,500 jobs relative to 6.8 per cent or 992,300 jobs in the overall economy in June 2020.

Given the prevailing challenges in the tourism industry, ABS anticipates further impacts of coronavirus pandemic on tourism jobs in the future releases. However, one need not neglect the improving dynamics of the Australian labour market, as evident from the recent fall in the unemployment rate during August.

Border Restrictions Ease Between SA and NSW

Following a continuous fall in coronavirus infections, border restrictions gradually eased between New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia (SA) recently. SA imposed border restrictions on Victoria and NSW subsequent to fresh COVID-19 cases emerging in these states to prevent the spread of the virus.

However, NSW is now under SA’s low community-transmission zone, and thereby, residents can travel between the two states without undergoing quarantine. The only condition to qualify for an entry permit to SA is that one should not have been to Victoria in the last 14 days.

Additionally, Queensland has also decided to open its borders with NSW for the first time in months, beginning from 1 October 2020. While the mandatory quarantine is still needed for residents returning from Victoria, residents returning from NSW are now exempted from 14-day quarantine.

Easing restrictions will come as a big relief to the Australian travel industry, which has been bearing a significant brunt of border closures. Besides, the borders reopening is likely to be a breather for people stranded in other states while being dislocated from family, friends and business opportunities.

Airlines Boost Flight Operations Amidst Borders Reopening

Airline operators, including Qantas Airways Limited (ASX:QAN), Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (ASX:VAH) and Jetstar are gearing up to add more flights to their existing routes amidst reopening of state borders.

Qantas has resumed daily flights between Adelaide and Sydney following the announcement of easing border restrictions between SA and NSW.

Besides, Jetstar has decided to increase the flights between Adelaide and Sydney from five days a week to two times each day from 1 October 2020, and three times each day from 1 November 2020. Jetstar also unveiled a $59 flash sale for 36 hours on flight tickets for these cities from mid-day on 24 September 2020.

Additionally, Virgin Australia is also ready to kick off flight services between Queensland, NSW, SA and the Australian Capital Territory for the first time in months. The airline operator has resumed flights between Adelaide and Canberra, while has decided to:

• operate daily flights between Brisbane and Canberra, along with Adelaide and Sydney, and
• add over 3000 seats between Canberra and the Gold Coast across the month of October.

No doubt, the easing of these state border restrictions has come as a great sigh of relief for tourism operators and airlines, struggling to revive from the Global Virus Crisis. Furthermore, high hopes are attached to the Victorian border reopening amidst a continual drop in the new coronavirus case numbers.

Interesting Read: Travel Bubbles: Knights in Shining Armour for Battered Travel Industry