Travel agents, the cruise industry, and tour operators decry the continued high cost of airfares

Travel agents, the cruise industry, and tour operators are concerned the prohibitively high cost of airfares are hurting the industry’s recovery and see no relief in sight.

Ben Angell, the chairman of Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA) and vice president and managing director of Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Travel agents, the cruise industry, and tour operators are decrying the continued high cost of airfares saying the prohibitive prices are hurting the billion-dollar industry’s recovery from covid.

A Connecticut-based executive from premium tour operator Tauck voiced his concerns about the high price of airfares into Australia this week as did two Norwegian Cruise Line’s executives who were also in Sydney.

Australia’s most powerful tourism executive, Graham Turner, co-founder of Flight Centre, added his weight to the ongoing problem forecasting airfares would remain expensive until well into the middle of next year.

Mr Turner told shareholders at Flight Centre’s Annual General Meeting this week that he was concerned about the lack of air capacity between Australia and Europe via the Middle East. “One of the biggest impediments to recovery so far has been a lack of airline capacity and competition...” he said.

Asked by The Australian on Thursday if the high cost and lack of capacity coupled with high demand was impeding the tourism industry’s recovery Mr Turner said:

“Very much so it is…the numbers into Australia, it’s half of pre-covid levels and a lot of that is due to the lack of capacity and high airfares,” he said.

“The Australian tourism industry is really suffering from this lack of capacity. From a Flight Centre point of view we need lower airfares, both for our business travel and leisure travel.

“This is very much hurting the travel industry and the tourism industry, we need lower airfares, well priced airfares are really important to the success for those in the industry.”

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics international arrivals numbers released earlier this week for September 2023 reveal visitor arrivals were at 84 per cent compared to September 2019. This is up from 76 per cent in August, compared to August 2019. The main returning markets are New Zealand, the US, UK and China.

A Virgin Airways plane travels down the runway as a QantasLink Dash 8-400 series plane takes off at Sydney's Kingsford Smith international airport on November 3, 2023. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

But Mr Turner argues airfares everywhere are expensive even on transpacific flights.

“The capacity to Europe is very restricted,” he said. “It’s about 70 per cent (of pre-covid levels) through the Middle East which is a major route for Australia.

“Singapore has more flights coming into Europe in April but a lot of airfares to Europe into the middle of the year will be expensive unless the government allows more airlines to put on more flights.

“With the Chinese carriers, some of the flights in through China and Taiwan will be good.

Mainstream flights on airlines like Qatar, Singapore, Emirates will be expensive into the middle of next year, from $2500 to $3500 to $4000 return economy.

Norwegian Cruise Lines vice president and managing director APAC, Ben Angell said the company was astounded that it had bounced back as well as it had given the exorbitant cost of air travel.

“I am astounded that, given the challenges with air, what we are seeing from our guests is that they are willing to spend more and booking further out - despite the fact that air is in many cases still very expensive”.

NCL vice president of international business Jason Krimmel said bookings are brisk and the cruise company felt extremely positive about bookings going into 2024 and 2025 but Australia’s performance was constrained by high airfares and flight capacity.

Separately, Tauck vice president global sales and reservations Steve Spivak said the lack of air capacity was definitely impeding outbound travel for Australians.

“Air capacity has been a challenge both into Australia and outbound,” he said. “Coming out of Covid people will not be deterred from travelling...(but) we have to be able to get people where they are going in a way that represents great value.”

Tauck operates premium river cruises as well as land tours across seven continents. The company lists Australia as its second largest source market.”

Originally published as Travel agents, the cruise industry, and tour operators decry the continued high cost of airfares