The reluctance to take a trip has grown quite rampant, thanks to the raging COVID-19 pandemic that has exacerbated health scenario across the world. As per the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) figures, tourist arrivals fell 74% in 2020 compared to the last year. Meanwhile, the global economy has suffered tremendously amidst lockdown and border restrictions.
Australia remained ahead of the curve and has been able to stave off larger evil on the back of its proactive responses. However, border restriction measures have severely afflicted the travel and tourism sector.
At this point, the coronavirus vaccine’s rollout assumes much greater importance with the domino effect witnessed in terms of the resurgence in employment level and business activities. According to the March 2021 Quarterly Economic Outlook released by KPMG, a swifter global vaccine rollout could spur the Australian economy, putting its travel recovery at a vantage point.
Meanwhile, many travel-related developments are panning out in the country. Let us look at the recent events encouraging travel scenario in Australia.
New Zealand -Australia travel arrangements in the offing
It has been quite some time since Australia has opened its borders to the neighbouring Kiwis, who are not required to quarantine themselves when entering the land down under. While there have been few suspensions with instances of coronavirus outbreaks in NZ, the one-side travel remained quite operative for a larger part during the period.
However, Australian tourists are yet awaiting New Zealand to reciprocate with similar measures. The recent developments seem optimistic for Australian travel enthusiasts as NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has indicated the opening of travel to NZ from some Australian states. It could prove to be a significant step forward for the recovery of Australian travel settings.
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Innovative developments to enhance recovery prospects
Resilience and long-term recovery are key agendas for Tourism Australia, betting on spurring marketing initiatives to attract customers. In a bid to boost promotional effort, Tourism Australia has announced $12 million for the National Experience Content Initiative to enhance visual marketing efforts for the country.
The initiative would offer new visual imagery and footage for up to 1.8K tourism experiences from around 57 regions across the country. Thus, it would ensure that the marketing materials and product listings on the online platform would stand out in search results, thereby enhancing domestic and international booking opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Australian business event industry is set to gain from the launch of a toolkit of assets that forms an essential component of Tourism Australia’s broader recovery strategy from the pandemic impacts.
The industry toolkit will offer an ‘all-inclusive point’ for utilising assets at zero cost that could be used in several marketing initiatives.
Australian travel package
The Australian Government has remained vigilant of the industry needs in general, and it recently unveiled a $1.2 billion tourism support package targeted towards supporting the tourism sector. The focus of the latest monetary aid is to boost local travel as international borders remain shut amid the fear of coronavirus infection.
The Government is targeting 14 destinations that primarily derive its income from international tourists and will be offering subsidised 80K tickets on domestic flights to such places. Meanwhile, small tourism operators can also avail loans at a low cost.
The package consists of $200 million support to Qantas Airways Ltd and Virgin Australia between April and October 2021, aimed towards staff’s wages and skills and aircraft maintenance.
Many industries that suffered vehemently are already mid-way to reach their pre-pandemic levels, while many others are performing a whole lot better than last year. Although the travel industry is none of those and yet to see some massive fast-track progress, the developments, if carried at the current pace, can indeed bring back its lost lustre.
Source: Kalkine Media
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I love your positive spin and there are indeed many good signs. What is holding us back is the fact that Australians will unlikely be fully vaccinated before the end of 2021 and that makes international travel largely impossible.