AS THE Federal Government looks at Working Holiday Maker (WHM) visa settings as part of its Regional Migration Review, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) is highlighting the importance of WHM visa holders to Australia’s tourism sector.
WHMs are estimated to spend $4.68 billion in the Australian economy in 2023-24, with 23% spending in regional towns, injecting $726 million directly into regional economies.
“Our recent member survey showed just how important WHM visitors are to Australia’s tourism economy with half of businesses saying they are vital employees and more than half saying they are a vital visitor market,” said ATEC Managing Director Peter Shelley (pictured).
“While employing WHM long-term isn’t the essence of the visa, the survey also revealed a strong desire of tourism businesses to employ WHM for a minimum of six months given the cost, time and effort required to train them.”
ATEC is urging the Government to add tourism to the list of ‘specified work’ across all areas of regional Australia as qualification for the 2nd and 3rd year visa, to ensure WHMs can holiday and work anywhere in regional Australia.
It has also made several other recommendations, including for a reduction of the qualifying period for the 3rd year extension of the visa to 88 days, and for the maximum age limit to be revised upwards to 35 across all countries.
“The WHM visa is vital to Australia’s tourism export strategy and ATEC believes targeted improvements can work to promote regional dispersal and increase visitor yield, which will benefit regional economies,” Shelley added. See ATEC’s full submission HERE.
The report lands at the same time as new data from Tourism Research Australia (TRA) is released, which shows that regional tourism is rebounding nicely, with more than half of regional communities seeing growth of above 50% on the previous year.
South Australia’s Kangaroo Island benefited most from the visitor influx, with tourism revenue accounting for 27% of the region’s local economy and 38% of all jobs on the island.
Phillip Island in Victoria saw strong growth as well, with tourism revenue making up 18% of the destination’s local economy and 30% of all jobs on the island, while Queensland’s Whitsundays also enjoyed a nice boost, with tourism spend generating 12% of the region’s local economy and 22% of all jobs.
