Australia becomes a mecca for young working tourists

A surge in young travellers has turned the country into a hot spot for foreign working tourists, with numbers surpassing 200,000 for the first time.

Revellers at Bronte Beach on Christmas Day. Picture: Daily Telegraph / Monique Harmer

A surge in young travellers to Australia has turned the country into the world’s mecca for foreign working tourists, with numbers surpassing 200,000 for the first time.

In the past year Australia welcomed half of the world’s working travellers, with young tourists from the UK leading the increase.

Almost 50,000 came from the UK, up from 31,000 in the year to December 2023 and 21,000 the year before.

An agreement that came into force last year raised the cut-off age for UK applicants from 30 to 35, allowed three-year stays and no longer required young travellers to work long periods in remote regions, often on farms, to extend their stay.

Among them are Emily Brady, 25, and partner Harry Bridges, 29, who moved in December last year. Ms Brady, a nurse, and Mr Bridges, who trained as a motor mechanic, quickly found well-paying jobs in the mining city of Kalgoorlie, 595km east of Perth.

Ms Brady earns up to three times more than in the UK, where she worked on a pediatric oncology ward in Wales.

“While I loved the job, it was very underfunded, very short-staffed, and you could work as many hours as you wanted but you weren’t really given any recognition for that,” she said.

“And I felt like it was just always an uphill battle. It was really exhausting.”

The couple have not been disappointed with their move to the other side of the world.

“The conditions are better. Staffing numbers are better, the outlook towards staff, the recognition … The pay is two to three times an hour more than I earned back home,” Ms Brady said.

They intend to stay in ­Australia.

“I have a really good family, and I do miss them,” Ms Brady said. “But I just think, for our future and having children and ­everything, it would be a much better life.”

There were 213,400 people on working holiday-maker visas in Australia at the end of last month – 43,000 more than last Christmas and 72,300 more than the pre-pandemic level of 141,100 in December 2019.

There was also a record number of working holiday-makers from France (23,700) and Ireland (21,800) last month. A further 14,800 were from Japan, 13,400 from Taiwan, 13,200 from Italy and 12,700 from South Korea.

Those numbers may put pressure on Australia’s annual migration targets, which Anthony Albanese’s Labor government is scrambling to meet after exceeding forecasts for the past two years as visitors extended stays.

His government will face challenges in meeting its promises to cut migration, partly because skilled young foreigners are in high demand and also because of economic contributions less-skilled workers make by spending money.

The Times