Australia has announced that as of 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated Working Holiday Makers will be able to work and travel the country once again. The new arrangement will apply to eligible visa holders, including Working Holiday Makers (Subclass 417) and Work and Holiday Visa (Subclass 462).
“The return of eligible Working Holiday Makers to Australia from 1 December is welcome news for our tourism industry. Working Holiday Makers are crucial to the tourism sector as these young travellers tend to stay longer, spend more and disperse more widely as they travel whilst also providing a flexible source of workers by combining their time in Australia with work and travel plans,” said Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison.
In 2019, Working Holiday Makers contributed $3.2 billion to Australia’s visitor economy and represented seven per cent of total visitor spend – the second largest leisure market by expenditure.
Working Holiday Maker visitors also largely spend what they earn in Australia, with the average spend per person equivalent to $10,400.
“Among our international markets, the UK is number one for the volume of Working Holiday Maker arrivals and in 2019, there were over 44,000 such visas granted to young travellers from across the UK and Ireland,” says Sally Cope, Regional General Manager – UK & Northern Europe for Tourism Australia.
“After a period of such disruption over the past eighteen months, an Australian working holiday is a fantastic opportunity to reboot by having an extended overseas adventure by working as well as travelling.”
Over the next few months, Tourism Australia will focus on attracting young people living in the United Kingdom, Japan and France to travel to Australia on a working holiday.
In the UK, a number of operators offer Working Holiday Visa packages to Australia, including Trailfinders, Student Universe and Gap360.
For more information, please visit Australia.com.
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