International tourists and business travellers return to Australia

Oversea tourists and business travellers began their return to Australia as of yesterday with the arrival of more than 50 international flights marking the opening of the nation’s international borders to overseas visitors.

With overseas arrivals able to enter the country with minimal restrictions, the border reopening also allowed family reunions after enforced separations of up to two years or longer forced by some of the most draconian pandemic measures of any democracy in the world.

International arrivals were greeted at airports by celebratory events and promotions, with Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan and Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison on hand to welcome the first arrivals on a Qantas flight from Los Angeles which landed at 6:20 a.m. local time.

Advising that the return of international arrivals was an important step in Australia’s Covid-19 recovery, Minister Tehan stated “we are successfully managing the pandemic and learning to live with the virus.

“Australians are travelling overseas, and we are welcoming international visitors to our country.

“Australia is the best country in the world and we’re excited to be sharing it with the rest of the world again.”

Welcoming the international arrivals as first step in getting the tourism sector back on its feet, Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) Managing Director, Peter Shelley stated “while the industry has endured a huge hit, the next 12 months will be the hardest for tourism owners as they work to rebuild once profitable businesses, having shed staff and depleted working capital and in many cases taken out loans to survive the last two years.”

With ATEC’s latest Industry Pulse survey revealing international in-market sellers of Australian travel are reporting significant concern from consumers lacking confidence to book their trips to Australia, Sheeley added “while the Government has invested in global advertising to drive demand to return to Australia, there are worrying signs consumers are wary of travelling here with confusion over our various state travel restrictions and concern about snap border closures.

“Australia is a long-haul, aspirational destination and people are concerned by what they have heard in the media about confusing state entry requirements and isolation protocols should they get covid while here.”

New Tourism Australia Marketing Campaign
In advance of the border reopening, Tourism Australia last week launched a $40 million international marketing campaign to as the first step in a long-term strategy to restart tourism to Australia, with further investment in tourism marketing campaigns internationally to come in the second half of the year.

With the slogan ‘Don’t Go Small - Go Australia’, the campaign focuses on iconic Australian locations like the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Uluru.

Introducing the campaign, Harrison said its launch was “a moment we have been waiting for two years.

This is what the industry had been asking us for, you know, just give us our international guests back and we will take it from there.”

Explaining the focus of the campaign, she noted "people have been living smaller lives during the pandemic (and this) is about showcasing the incredible diversity and the incredible experiences that are here in Australia.”

Images: Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan and Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison at Sydney Airport yesterday (top, credit: Tourism Australia) and arrivals in Melbourne yesterday (below).