Cash, accommodation, travel on offer for working holiday makers

From $20 airfares to $2000 incentive payments, Australia is pulling out all stops to attract working holiday makers as tourism operators struggle to find staff.

Niamh Mulkerrins of Galway in Ireland was the first person to take up the offer of a 10 pound fare to fly to South Australia for a working holiday. Picture: Andrew Downes

From airfares to Australia for under $20 to $2000 in assistance on arrival, the states are pulling out all stops to attract working holiday makers back to fill thousands of job vacancies.

Prior to the Covid pandemic, working holiday makers or backpackers performed 250,000 jobs across the country, and contributed a handy $3.2bn to the visitor economy.

Since borders reopened late last year, only 24,000 WHMs have returned, doing little to ease chronic labour shortages in the hospitality and tourism industries.

Australian Tourism Industry Council chairman Evan Hall said it was pleasing to see the various states offering incentives to backpackers in the face of competition from other countries like Canada and New Zealand.

“Winning back WHMs is absolutely essential to the recovery of the tourism industry and the destinations that make the best offers are the ones that will best recover their tourism industry,” Mr Hall said.

“The best incentives are those that provide upfront assistance to lure people over not only for a holiday but commitment for a job as well.”

Queensland’s “work in paradise” scheme was one of the first to roll out, offering $1500 cash incentives for people to relocate to regional areas to work.

More than 3500 people took up the offer, but Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said 1300 jobs remained listed on the work in paradise website.

The Northern Territory provided $500 for every WHM to spend on a tourism experience within the Top End, while Western Australia raised the bar with up to $2000 in assistance.

The sum included $40 a night towards accommodation in regional WA and $500 to help with travel costs for backpackers.

A South Australian initiative of 200 £10 ($17.40) return airfares from the UK to Adelaide sold out in under five minutes with over 16,000 people registering their interest.

The offer came with three nights free accommodation at Adelaide’s YHA, and YHA Australia CEO Paul McGrath said plenty were staying on for longer.

“It’s been super good for us, and we’ve so far had 190 individuals book,” Mr McGrath said.

“From where we sit, working holiday makers are coming back relatively strongly with around 60 per cent of our guests now from overseas.”

Ireland’s Niamh Mulkerrins, 29, was among the first to score one of the bargain fares after applying for a working holiday visa in January.

“I’ve been wanting to visit Australia on the working holiday visa for a long time and the pandemic made me even more determined to switch up my life and head down under,” said Ms Mulkerrins who worked for an insurance company in Ireland.

“I’m already thinking of extending my visa and staying on for a second year.”

As the operator of 300 holiday parks and resorts across Australia, G’Day Group CEO Grant Wilckens said they had a lot more jobs than people at the moment.

He said incentives offered by the various states and Northern Territory were helping a bit, but there was a long way to go.

“The other thing to note is employees are winning out here. They’re getting better wages and conditions, accommodation paid for, things like that,” Mr Wilckens said.

“It would also help if the tax-free threshold for backpackers was restored, so if they’re just doing some casual work, they don’t have to pay 15 cents in the dollar to the government.”

Mr Hall was also keen to see the new Albanese government “pause” the backpacker tax introduced in 2017 which had led to a decline in working holiday makers.

He said it was easy to see how that could deter a traveller considering whether to visit and work in Australia or somewhere else.

“Every dollar counts for backpackers, they’re a bit of a price conscious group because they’re travelling on a budget,” Mr Hall said.

“They enjoy the experience but obviously money does matter, so incentives matter as does not charging them more tax than what any other worker would pay.”

Originally published as Cash, accommodation, travel on offer for working holiday makers