Adventure Tourism Victoria calls on Victorian Government to change conditions for ‘Working Holiday Makers’ visas

Adventure Tourism Victoria (ATV) is calling on the State Government to advocate on the behalf of Victoria’s regional tourism and hospitality businesses and allow Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) further opportunities to extend their stays in Victoria and help solve Victoria’s urgent need for more workers.

With support from Victorian Tourism Industry Council, Australian Hotels Association, YHA Australia, Destination Phillip Island, Tourism Adventure Group, Yarra Ranges Council, Great Ocean Road Tourism, the State Member for Sandringham, and many other organisations and businesses, this campaign is growing momentum at a rapid pace.

Alex Hill, ATV President notes "as has been well documented, Victoria has faced its fair share of challenges since 2020. As we bounce back there are huge opportunities within our grasp by making small changes to the working holiday visa that drive economic growth within Victoria and place Australia at the top of the destination list in this highly lucrative, highly mobile and sought after market."

ATV is calling on the Victorian Government to fight for Victoria’s visa conditions for WHMs to be in line with the entirety of NT, and anywhere in WA and QLD that is north of the tropic of Capricorn. Currently, Subclass 417 and Subclass 462 visa holders are required to complete 88 days of agricultural or other specified work in regional Victoria to extend their visa for an additional year, while in the aforementioned states, they can complete this work in tourism and hospitality.

While there are some postcodes in Victoria that currently fall into this category most are not in traditional, regional tourism hotspots and many are not where critical shortfalls of jobseekers are currently being experienced.

ATV considers WHMs to be essential to Victoria in terms of tourism dollars spent as well as a source of labour. Making Victoria an attractive destination for WHMs needs to be a top priority considering regional locations are currently experiencing an unemployment rate of 2.8% and a vacancy rate of 28% (444,000 vacancies), this vacancy rate increases to 44% when only looking at hospitality and tourism. Further to that, a recent research piece commissioned by ATV found that 40% of WHMs do not enter Victoria and that since 2013 the Australian economy has missed out on over $1.3Billion due to falling visa approvals.

Felicia Mariani, VTIC Chief Executive adds "Australia has been noncompetitive in this space for too long. In fact, working holiday makers seeking to come to Australia peaked in 2013, with just over 258,200 visas granted that year. We have seen a steady decline of WHV numbers since then, with just 209,036 visas granted in 2019 prior to the pandemic."

Changing the conditions for Subclass 417 and 462 visa holders is the first step in making Victoria a destination for working holiday makers, which will significantly benefit Victorian businesses, the Victorian economy and improve Australia’s standing as a destination for this highly mobile and incredibly lucrative visitor segment.

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS notes "high numbers of job vacancies in all industries continue to reflect ongoing labour shortages in a tight labour market, particularly in customer-facing industries." This was most acute in Arts and recreation services and ccommodation and food services, where vacancies were almost four times what they were before the pandemic.

ATV President Alex Hill concludes “Australia is in the midst of a job vacancy crisis, with no immediate or singular solution or silver bullet. There are physically not enough people of working age in Australia to fill vacancies, and, only through a collection of visa and immigration changes, not restricted to just this call to action, can inroads be made into this deficit.”