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Tourism and events leaders warn Australia risks sacrificing billions in visitor spending, regional jobs and a vital flexible workforce if Working Holiday Maker reform becomes a numbers game.

Australia’s Working Holiday Maker debate has shifted from a migration spreadsheet to something far more tangible: billions of dollars in visitor spending, regional jobs, event crews, tourism businesses and the long tail of travellers who may return with families years later.

Two influential industry bodies, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) and the Australian Business Events Association (ABEA), are urging the Federal Government to treat the Working Holiday Maker program as an economic and tourism asset, not simply another line in Australia’s net migration figures.

And there is plenty riding on the answer.

The debate comes at a sensitive moment. The Department of Home Affairs says offshore Working Holiday Maker applications are taking longer than usual, while applications from a number of countries covered by annual caps under the Work and Holiday subclass 462 program are currently paused. Those country-cap settings can move between open, paused and closed during a program year.

For tourism operators trying to plan staff rosters months ahead, uncertainty can be almost as troublesome as an outright cut.

ATEC says chase value, not simply fewer visas

ATEC’s message to Canberra is straightforward: if the Working Holiday Maker program is to be reformed, Australia should chase greater economic value rather than automatically cut numbers.

Managing Director Peter Shelley said the program had always been about considerably more than filling vacant shifts.

“The Working Holiday Maker program is first and foremost a travel and cultural exchange program, which has been building connections between Australia and young people around the world for more than 50 years,” Mr Shelley said.

That history matters.

Australia’s reciprocal Working Holiday Maker program dates from 1975 and now covers more than 40 partner countries and jurisdictions through the Working Holiday subclass 417 and Work and Holiday subclass 462 visa streams. The basic proposition is simple: eligible young travellers can enjoy an extended Australian holiday and undertake short-term work to help pay for it.

For tourism, that can be a particularly tidy arrangement.

A traveller earns money, stays longer, eats out, books accommodation, hires a vehicle, joins tours and ventures beyond Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. In other words, the worker and the tourist are very often the same person just wearing different shoes.

ATEC says Tourism Research Australia reported Working Holiday Makers spent $2.5 billion in Australia in 2024. The council estimates current annual WHM tourism expenditure could now be around $3.0 billion to $3.3 billion, before accounting for broader contributions through work and taxation.

Its longer-term target is much more ambitious.

The $6 billion opportunity

ATEC believes Working Holiday Makers could contribute towards $6 billion annually by 2035.

Importantly, the council says reaching that target would not necessarily require Australia to bring in substantially more Working Holiday Makers.

Instead, it wants the country to extract greater tourism value from each visit through longer stays, increased expenditure, stronger regional dispersal and greater participation in tourism experiences.

“WHM visitors contributing $6 billion to our economy by 2035 is the kind of ambition Australia should be discussing,” Mr Shelley said.

ATEC says Working Holiday Makers spend more than $32,000 on average while in Australia, with nearly a quarter of that expenditure reaching regional towns.

If that is the yardstick, Shelley argues the program should be judged on considerably more than the number stamped on a visa spreadsheet.

How long visitors stay matters. So do where they travel, how much they spend, how many regions they visit, and the contribution they make to tourism, hospitality, and local communities.

That is a much broader balance sheet.

Regional businesses feel the workforce pressure

For operators outside the major capitals, the argument is hardly theoretical.

RedSands Campers Managing Director Adam Sands said reducing access to long-stay Working Holiday Makers would make staffing the company’s Broome and Darwin depots much harder.

The business hires 4WD campers, campervans and motorhomes to self-drive travellers, many from Europe.

Sands said the company had increased wages but still struggled to attract sufficient local workers.

“We pay above award and have lifted rates repeatedly, but we still cannot fill these roles locally, because the working-age population in those towns is small, and already committed to mining, construction, health and government.

“A WHM working in Broome or Darwin is solving a problem, not creating one.”

Another benefit rarely appears in migration statistics: tomorrow’s visitor.

Sands said Working Holiday Makers who spend years exploring Australia frequently return home with a lasting connection to the country. A decade or more later, some return with partners and children for larger, longer and considerably more expensive Australian holidays.

“Every extended working holiday maker visa is also an investment in the next generation of high value visitors. Cut the program and you are not just losing workers today; you are cancelling those future family holidays before they are ever booked.”

It is a persuasive tourism argument because customer acquisition rarely comes with a 10-year head start.

Business events join the warning

Australia’s business events industry is now pushing a similarly forceful case.

ABEA has warned that slower visa processing and pauses involving capped partner countries could weaken the sector’s ability to assemble the flexible workforce required to deliver major events.

ABEA’s statement referred to applications from 24 capped partner countries being affected. Because Home Affairs changes cap statuses during the program year, that figure is best regarded as a snapshot of the situation ABEA was responding to rather than a permanent current count. Use the Government’s live status page when reporting the number currently paused.

ABEA CEO Melissa Brown said venues, suppliers and organisers rely heavily on Working Holiday Makers when major events push labour demand sharply higher.

“We know many of our venue, supplier and organiser members rely on those with working holiday visas, especially for the delivery of large-scale events and experiences that Australia is known for,” Brown said.

“We want to see more people available to work in Australia. Our industry demands it.”

The numbers supplied by major event businesses help explain the concern.

Harry the hirer CEO Gab Robinson said 23 per cent of the company’s 1,328 employees in FY2025–26 were employed under WHM visas.

During peak periods, the business typically employs between 300 and 400 working holiday travellers.

“The business events industry operates around significant peaks in demand, and Working Holiday Makers are an essential part of our ability to scale our workforce when our clients need it most,” Robinson said.

Moreton Hire CEO Dan Morahan said approximately 22 per cent of employees across the company’s national branches held either WHM or other visa classes, excluding labour-agency employees where the proportion was higher.

The Victorian Convention and Event Trust, operator of Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre, employs 246 people across a range of visa categories, including WHM and student visas.

Those are not insignificant numbers when a major convention, exhibition or corporate event suddenly requires hundreds of additional hands.

$4.4 billion in 2025 visitor spending

The tourism expenditure figures add another dimension.

Tourism Research Australia data cited by the Tourism & Transport Forum shows international Working Holiday Makers spent about $1.1 billion in regional Australia during 2025, representing 20 per cent of all international visitor spending in regional Australia.

They spent a further $3.3 billion in Australian capital cities, equal to about 10 per cent of international visitor expenditure in those destinations.

Combined, that is roughly $4.4 billion flowing through accommodation, food and beverage, transport, attractions, retail and other parts of the visitor economy.

Suddenly, the humble backpack looks rather more like a travelling wallet.

Australia’s wider visitor economy is also expanding. Tourism Research Australia says total visitor spending reached $192.4 billion in 2025, up 6.5 per cent from 2024, while international arrivals climbed to 8.9 million.

Against that backdrop, policies affecting long-stay international travellers carry genuine commercial consequences.

Migration policy meets tourism policy

None of this means the Federal Government should ignore migration planning.

Government has legitimate responsibilities covering population growth, housing pressures, labour-market integrity and the proper operation of temporary visa programs.

Industry is not arguing those concerns disappear merely because a Working Holiday Maker buys a reef excursion, rents a campervan or orders another round at the local pub.

What ATEC and ABEA want is a broader ledger.

If reform proceeds, they argue Canberra should weigh visitor expenditure, regional dispersal, workforce flexibility, business continuity, taxation and future repeat visitation alongside headline migration numbers.

ATEC has also proposed better pre-arrival information, stronger connections with trusted employers and clearer pathways towards valuable regional work and travel opportunities.

That could preserve the program’s traditional cultural-exchange purpose while making its economic return easier to understand and measure.

And perhaps that is where the debate should ultimately land.

Australia needs to know not only how many Working Holiday Makers arrive, but where they travel, what they spend, what work they perform and what economic relationship they build with the country.

A visa number tells Canberra who came through the door.

It does not tell us what they left behind.

The backpack may be temporary. The economic footprint, if Australia gets the settings right, could last for decades.