Travel: Border agreements needed to get summer holidays going

The travel industry responds to a surge in destination searches by cooped-up Australians despite border doubts.

Pink Hotel Coolangatta general manager Freya Frenzel says bookings are promising for the Christmas period. Pictures: Lyndon Mechielsen

The Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and Byron Bay.

These are the places cooped-up Australians are hoping to visit as Christmas holidays draws near.

And with Scott Morrison flagging the imminent return of international travel, even overseas holidays are being considered.

Searches for flights to Britain rose 28 per cent last week and those to the US were up 13 per cent, says Flight Centre, the country’s largest travel agency.

Of domestic holiday routes, Flight Centre booking data shows flights from Sydney and Melbourne to the Gold Coast are the most in demand in December and January, followed by those from Brisbane to Hamilton Island.

The travel industry expects the surge of interest in recent weeks – as officials increasingly suggest border restrictions will be loosened by Christmas – will soon turn into an avalanche of booking.

The Pink Hotel at Coolangatta sits on the border with NSW, and had reopened only its restaurant when Queens­land recorded a new outbreak of community transmissions.

Freya Frenzel, the hotel’s general manager, said bookings were promising for the Christmas period despite a lack of certainty over whether the border would open.

“We want people here and we want them to travel,” she said.

“It would help if the government would bring in new rules and stop changing them. It’s very hard to work in our industry and plan even a few days ahead.”

Ms Frenzel said last-minute bookings had become increasingly popular, something she thinks will stay the case for some time.

“Confidence is probably in most desperate short supply at the moment, and that’s confidence for businesses, but also confidence of travellers to make bookings and to commit to arrangements in the future,” said Daniel Gschwind, deputy chairman of the Australian Tourism Industry Council.

“The population has gone out hard to get vaccinated … surely at some point we have to be con­fident enough to interact in a more normal way. I remain absolutely optimistic and I think the pent-up demand is significant.”

Booking.com’s most searched location in September, the online reservation service said, was the Gold Coast.

That was followed by Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Cairns and Noosa Heads.

 

A recent survey of users by the platform found 61 per cent said travel was more important to them now than it was before the pandemic. Two-thirds were willing to accept only being able to travel if they could prove they had received a Covid-19 vaccine.

“Our data shows our exploratory appetite and desire to get back to travel as soon as possible remains strong and we’re expecting a very busy travel period over Christmas and New Year's Eve,” said Melissa Ellison, the company’s Australian manager.

“It’s reassuring to see that after a year of unpredictable events from outbreaks to earthquakes, Aussies have high hopes to return to not just domestic but inter­national travel soon too.”

Travellers stuck in the NSW and Victorian lockdowns have begun to make bookings nationwide, said Tourism Accommodation Australia chief executive Michael Johnson, in the hopes that open travel is on the cards.

“There’s a whole lot of bookings sitting in Queensland, that’s for sure, and those bookings are holding at the moment,” he said.

“People are still keeping positive to think that they will be able to get over that border for Christmas and the upcoming holiday summer holiday period but they will be very much listening (to government).”

For Airbnb, the interest for December and January travel appears firmly in seaside holidays. Its list of searched destinations is topped by the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, followed by Byron Bay and the NSW mid-north coast, the Great Ocean Road and Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, and Jervis Bay.

“For our guest community, hosts recognise that they are seeking flexibility at these uncertain times, and now almost two-thirds of active listings offer a moderate or flexible cancellation policy,” said Airbnb Australia manager Susan Wheeldon.

A lack of certainty about international travel – and onerous quarantine requirements – will stifle overseas holidays even once the restrictions lift.

“An across-the-board quarantine requirement does not seem sustainable,” said International Air Transport Association Asia Pacific vice-president Philip Goh.

“The government should adopt a data-driven approach in managing their risk of importing Covid-19,” he said.

“This includes lifting quarantine for people who have been vaccinated.

“And for those who cannot be vaccinated for various reasons, use testing as an alternative.”

Despite these concerns, Qantas earlier this week outlined international routes it intended to recommence from December 18, including flights from Sydney and Melbourne to London, Los Angeles, Singapore, Vancouver, Tokyo and Fiji.