Months after the reopening of the Western Australian border, the number of international visitors to the state is still only a third of pre-pandemic levels – with tourism businesses expecting to have to wait two years for a full recovery.
Key points:
- Many foreign tourists have been burned by the WA border reopening backflip
- Perth Airport believes more needs to be done to regain its trust
- Domestic travel has increased significantly in recent months
When the pandemic first hit and international borders were closed, overseas travelers disappeared, leaving tourism operators scrambling to adapt.
There was a silver lining when borders reopened in March and the number of international visitors to Perth jumped by more than 400%.
But the recovery has been slow, with international arrivals at 30-35% of pre-pandemic levels, and many tourism businesses have remained struggling.
Amy Stutt’s skydiving business was thrown into uncertainty when international travel stopped and wiped out more than 75% of its clientele.
“At the very beginning of the pandemic, it was very devastating,” Ms Stutt said.
“About 45% of our customers were from mainland China (…) so our business was affected much earlier than many other tourism businesses,” she said.
Companies forced to adapt or die
While government assistance in the form of JobKeeper was able to get them through the first winter period of lockdown and border closures, the business had to adapt to survive.
“We needed to see how we could better meet local market needs,” Ms. Stutt said.
“We’ve always tried not to because our other skydiving operators in WA have really tied that side of the market world together. »
Capturing more of the local customer base and working in tandem with national and regional marketing campaigns has helped Ms. Stutt’s business weather the pandemic.
But while she remained hopeful since the border reopened, she said there were still many other hurdles in place, resulting in a slow recovery.
“It really depends on the market you are referring to. For example, the Singapore market is becoming gangbuster. We are really excited to welcome visitors from Singapore again,” she said.
“But other inbound markets have other issues. Coming from South Korea, Hong Kong, until recently these markets have had quarantine arrangements in their home countries. »
More work needed to rebuild trust
Recovering the international traveler base is not as simple as opening state borders.
Many travelers and businesses were burned when the state government delayed the original opening date of the Western Australian border.
While $48 million in funding has helped keep businesses like Ms Stutt’s afloat, there’s still work to be done to rebuild trust with travellers, according to Perth International Airport CEO Kevin Brown .
“I suspect there is an element of anxiety with a number of travelers waiting,” Mr Brown said.
“There is a significant investment in marketing and stimulating demand … strengthening these freight links, international education links, conference links, tourist links.
“And encouraging people to go catch up with their families, some of whom, myself included, haven’t seen our families for at least three years. »
Mr Brown shared the hope that tourism businesses clung to, with the hope that international travel would continue to increase.
“There’s a holiday coming up soon, and I suspect Christmas will be a big boost,” Brown said.
“These forward bookings are starting to increase and this will give airlines the comfort to increase capacity and frequency to meet this demand. »
The domestic travel market is heating up
While international travelers have been slow to return, Mr Brown said domestic travel has increased significantly over the past two to three months, with figures reaching around 70% of pre-COVID traffic.
“That’s almost 800,000 passengers a month… there’s still a bit of a way to go, but it’s certainly taken off much faster,” he said.
One of Australia’s largest regional accommodation providers, G’DAY Group, has welcomed the rapid recovery of the domestic travel industry.
“Pent-up demand for domestic travelers to go to wonderful places around the Western Australian coast, and in the North Kimberley and Rottnest Island, is very strong for the domestic market,” said general manager Grant Wilckens.
Wilckens said his business would rely on strong domestic travel demand to sustain itself while waiting for the bulk of international travelers to return.
“We have a very small number of internationals in our booking calendar,” he said.
“Winter-wise, we have a very strong northern season, and it’s usually a domestic Australian clientele at the moment.
“We see, probably, Rottnest coming back in the summer period, starting to see those internationals coming back. »
But Mr Wilckens said the resumption of international travel would be a “slow burn”. So, while hoping, the company will focus on capturing the market of Australians traveling within their own country.
” We are far. We are optimistic, but I think it would be a two or three year burn to come back,” he said.