Oz tourist industry attacks working holiday visa price hike

Australian tourist chiefs are fighting plans by the government to increase the price of its working holiday visa by as much as 30 per cent.

The working holiday visa programme has proved very popular over the years with gap-year students and backpackers looking to fund their travels by working for up to the 12-month limit of the visa. The present cost of £184 entitles travellers between the ages of 18 and 30 to enter Australia and work for no more than six months with a single employer, with another job able to be taken for the remaining six months of the visa.

However, the Australian government is planning to up the cost of the visa in 2013 from £182 to £237, an increase of 28 per cent. Tourism officials are highly critical of the move, saying it will cause a drop in uptake of the visa and also reduce the total spend of working holiday visa holders.

A letter of protest has been sent to the government by the Australia Tourism Export Council (ATEC) on behalf of the industry, stating that the country should instead be attracting more working holidaymakers as each contributes on average A$13,000 to the OZ economy during the stay. The letter adds that, if the cost of a visa were to be reduced, the gain to the economy over the next decade would be in the region of A$700 million.

The working holiday sector of tourism arrivals has been hard hit by the changing style of youth travel, the high Australian dollar and international competition. According to ATEC board member Peter Oveden, as a result of the economic crisis young travellers are now watching the pennies and heading for capital cities.