Australia to consider changes to working holiday visa to aid tourism

Students may soon be able to take up a new offer of a short term working holiday in Australia following research into working holiday tourism strategies.

The Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) has made key recommendations in a report to the Australian government, including declaring that Australian working tourism was a largely untapped market.

The tourism industry in Australia believes that the introduction of a short term working holiday visa would bolster the economy and encourage international students to see more of the country when their studies have been concluded. International students are generally regarded as coming from financially stable families with sufficient funds to make a difference to the industry’s coffers.

Among recommendations to facilitate the new wave of business would be changes to the requirements for eligibility for the Australian visa which may include reduced working hours and visa length extensions. Also on the cards are more high-energy young-person attractions, expansion of healthy living marketing and increased developments for the new generation of techpackers – backpackers who require WiFi access, laptops and iPhones to travel with.

Research found that the dominant trends for travelling as an experience were intense physical activities such as bungee jumping, rafting, diving, skydiving, trekking and surfing. New Zealand leads the way in such offerings from Australia, Africa, Canada and South America.

New strategies are to be developed with these facts in mind so Australia can further enhance its already strong competitiveness in the international backpacker market. Research was made through consulting some 1500 backpackers on holiday.