The tourism industry is urging the Home Office to speed up the processing of tourist visas, as some travelers face month-long delays in entering Australia to go on holiday or see family.
Key points:
- Tourism and Transport Forum chief says delays are “damaging our brand”
- Leonora Luff’s family in the Philippines has been waiting for tourist visas to visit Australia for five months
- Tour operator Jian Sun expects Chinese tourists to return soon
Although there was a lot of fanfare when Australia reopened completely in the world in February, the recovery of tour operators has been slow, with arrivals abroad still well below pre-pandemic levels.
“If it makes it difficult for them to get a visa and it takes an eternity, they will take their money and travel elsewhere,” Margy Osmond, executive director of the Tourism and Transportation Forum, said at 7.30am.
“It’s really hurting our brand not to be able to get those visas out of the door as soon as possible in the most appropriate way.”
Australia’s $ 60 billion tourism industry lost about 610,000 jobs during the pandemic.
Leonora Luff (fourth from left) can’t wait to see her family. (Provided by: Leonora Luff)
Queensland resident Leonora Luff said at 7:30 a.m. she was desperate to reconnect with family in the Philippines, but had been waiting five months for her tourist visa to visit Australia.
They have not received a response from the department and applicants cannot check the status of their application.
Mrs Luff said she had not seen her young niece for years and had not known her one-year-old nephew.
“The stress for the family, the emotional toll and the psychological weight, can be unbearable,” he said.
“It’s very important to me because they’re like my children, they’re my joy, they’re my world.”
The Department of the Interior said it had experienced a 427% increase in visitor visa holders since the border was partially reopened to some travelers in November last year.
The department says tourist visa processing times have been improved from 20 months to 37 days for 90% of applications, as it works with the delay.
BridgeClimb’s Deb Zimmer expects more foreign tourists to arrive during the summer. (Image: Shaun Kingma)
When asked what applicants should do if they had not heard about the status of the visa, the Department of Home Affairs did not respond directly, but said: “All applications are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. for each case and processing times may vary depending on individual circumstances, and whether or not the application submitted was incomplete or required further information. ”
Many operators, such as BridgeClimb in Sydney, which makes the iconic climbing route on the harbor bridge, have not yet seen the number of foreign tourists return before the pandemic.
Domestic tourists now account for the majority of current sales.
“We couldn’t keep up with this for an extended period of time,” said Executive Director Deb Zimmer.
“What we can see is the green shoots, and we’re very hopeful, but for us the litmus test is really December and January.”
Waiting for Chinese tourists to return
Tour operator Jian Sun is worried about how long it will take Chinese tourists to return. (ABC News: Jerry Rickard)
In addition to visa delays and aviation restrictions, Australia’s tourism industry is facing a $ 12 billion black hole as the Chinese visitor market has evaporated.
Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were the largest and most spent group of visitors in Australia: about 1.4 million people a year.
Now Chinese tourists have dropped to eighth place, with British visitors now at the top.
This is because China is still living under a tough zero-VOCID strategy, which means residents face localized blockades and restrictions on non-essential travel abroad.
Jian Sun takes a bus tour of Sydney that specializes in Chinese visitors. He has had to switch to Chinese national Australians to fill the gap and is worried about how long it will take Chinese nationals to return.
“We feel a little nervous and stressed by the uncertainty,” he said at 7.30am.
The total recovery of the tourism sector in at least 12 months
U.S. tour operator Sherry Heard says, “It’s time for people to start traveling again.” (ABC News: Jason Om)
While the industry expects a slow recovery, last month marked an important milestone with the return of the Australian Tourism Exchange, a trade fair where buyers and sellers do business.
It was the first time in two years that foreign buyers could come face to face with Australian traders.
Tour operator Sherry Heard traveled from Texas to see what Australia had to offer Americans.
Ms Heard said at 7.30am she believed people should not be afraid to take a trip abroad.
“The world is fully equipped to handle all kinds of tourism, whether here in Australia or anywhere in the world,” he said.
“It’s time for people to start traveling again.”
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