Impending border reopening triggers spike in travel searches

Australia has rocketed to the top of travel search lists after the government’s border announcement, as Jetstar pushes back Bali flights due to lack of interest.

The full reopening of international borders on February 21 should see more airlines return to routes abandoned during the pandemic. Picture: John Grainger

The imminent reopening of Australia’s borders to international tourists has triggered an immediate rush on travel searches from people in the UK, India and the US.

Travel booking site Skyscanner reported a 21 per cent spike in global visitors to the site following Monday’s announcement of the February 21 reopening.

Searches for inbound travel to Australia surged 23 per cent with the bulk of the interest coming from the UK, followed by India, US, South Korea and Ireland.

The top three destinations searched were Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Skyscanner regional director Paul Whiteway said the instant tidal wave of traffic on the site showed Australia was very much back on the map for international travellers after a long period of locked borders.

“The reopening of Australia’s border to international visitors is a huge milestone in the tourism industry and amazing news for those who have been dreaming about coming down under, whether for a holiday or to see loved ones,” he said.

“We’ve seen from global travel reopenings elsewhere that clear, consistent information about the latest changes and travel requirements are the key to unlocking traveller confidence, alongside increased flexibility and competitive pricing.”

International airlines were also keen to see a more simplified approach to international arrivals applied uniformly across the states, in relation to things like tests and self isolation.

Australian Federation of Travel Agents CEO Dean Long said there was still a lot of detail to sort out around requirements for visitors to avoid mass confusion from February 21.

“What we need to see is how the states are going to implement these rule changes; how we’re going to recognise international vaccination certificates and will we recognise the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that’s been popular in the US,” said Mr Long.

“There’s a lot of details the government has to work through with the industry and we look forward to engaging with them.”

Despite the rush in Australian travel searches, Mr Long said he was not expecting overseas visitors to rebound to 2019 figures anytime soon.

That was partly due to the fact some of Australia’s biggest visitor markets including China, New Zealand and Japan continued to impose restrictions on travel.

“Leisure and standard corporate travel will take some more time to return, so we’ll probably start to see some good numbers in June and July,” Mr Long said.

“That’s a good thing because that’s how long it will take to get all the details finalised.”

As the Australian travel industry geared up to welcome back visitors, airlines were finding next to no interest in Bali following the February 5 reopening.

The requirement for five-days hotel quarantine had reduced demand to almost nothing, prompting Jetstar to postpone its return to the Indonesian holiday isle by a fortnight.

Flights from Bali to Denpasar would now begin on March 14, and from Sydney the day after.

A Jetstar spokeswoman would not rule out a further delay.

“We will continue to monitor entry restrictions and look forward to flying into Bali when quarantine restrictions ease further,” she said.