ATEC says Australia’s backpacking workforce is delivering billions in visitor spending, supporting regional businesses and solving labour shortages, making visa certainty a commercial necessity, not a bureaucratic nicety.
Australia’s Working Holiday Makers are again finding themselves in Canberra’s policy spotlight, but the Australian Tourism Export Council says the debate risks overlooking a rather inconvenient fact: these young travellers are not merely filling shifts; they are filling tills.
ATEC Managing Director Peter Shelley is in Canberra this week arguing for greater certainty around the Working Holiday Maker program, timely visa processing and proper industry consultation before further policy changes are made.
“Working Holiday Makers bring billions of dollars into our visitor economy while also providing the mobile and flexible workforce many Australian businesses need,” Mr Shelley said.
That contribution is especially important outside the capital cities, where labour shortages can bite hardest and where tourism operators, farms and hospitality businesses often depend on seasonal workers.
“They stay longer, travel further and spend on accommodation, tours, transport, hospitality and experiences. At the same time, their work helps tourism, agriculture and other regional businesses meet seasonal workforce shortages.”
The numbers give ATEC’s argument considerable weight. Industry data citing Tourism Research Australia shows Working Holiday Makers spent about $4.4 billion in Australia during 2025, including roughly $1.1 billion in regional Australia.
ATEC further estimates the cohort contributed about $1.4 billion in tax from wages.
For regional destinations, that is not loose change rattling around in a backpack. It is money flowing through pubs, hostels, hotels, tour companies, transport providers, restaurants, shops and local attractions, often in communities where every additional visitor dollar matters.
More than a backpacker visa
The Federal Government’s Working Holiday Maker program has operated since 1975 and now covers more than 40 partner countries or jurisdictions through the subclass 417 Working Holiday visa and subclass 462 Work and Holiday visa.
Yet the current processing picture is uneven.
Home Affairs presently lists an overall Working Holiday Maker processing indicator of five days, while also warning that offshore applications can take several months in some cases. Applications for numerous countries operating under subclass 462 annual caps are also currently paused.
That uncertainty is precisely what tourism operators want removed.
“After rebuilding international tourism following COVID, and more recent disruption associated with the Middle East conflict, we should avoid creating further uncertainty for a visitor segment delivering significant value to Australian businesses and communities,” Mr Shelley said.
A $6 billion opportunity
ATEC’s longer-term argument is also noteworthy.
Rather than judging the program simply by visa volumes, the organisation wants government to focus on economic value: how much Working Holiday Makers spend, how widely they travel, how long they stay and how strongly they support regional businesses.
ATEC believes the annual economic contribution of Working Holiday Makers could grow towards $6 billion by 2035, driven by higher visitor expenditure, greater regional dispersal and stronger participation in Australian tourism experiences.
That is arguably a more commercially useful conversation than treating every Working Holiday Maker as little more than another migration statistic.
They are visitors first, workers second and customers throughout.
“The immediate priority is certainty and timely processing, but we also have an opportunity to build a better program for the future,” Mr Shelley said.
His closing message to Canberra is difficult to misunderstand.
“Working Holiday Makers are solving problems, not creating them. Government and industry should work together to ensure the program continues to deliver for visitors, Australian businesses and particularly the regional communities that benefit from both their work and their spending.”
For Australia’s tourism industry, the proposition is straightforward.
If a visitor travels widely, spends heavily, pays tax and helps a regional business keep its doors open during a busy season, that is hardly a policy problem begging to be reduced.
It looks rather more like an export success story worth protecting.
By: Jill Walsh – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
Author Bio:
Jill Walsh has always kept a pen close and a suitcase closer. She started in media releases, then learned the trade by escorting press trips around the world, discovering which stories travel well and which need a sharper edit.
Before long, she wasn’t just promoting destinations; she was representing them, translating civic ambition and local pride into words people actually wanted to read. These days, semi-retired and happily so, Jill has traded departure boards for deadlines, joining old friend and colleague Stephen at Global Travel Media on a casual basis.
Her patch is the business end of wanderlust: balance sheets, route maps, tender wins and the numbers that quietly decide where travellers go. She writes with dry humour, clean prose and an old-school respect for facts a steady voice when the market starts shouting.
