Australian hospitality insiders have warned businesses will have to shut their doors if more international workers don't join the labour force soon.
The country’s borders are open to international students and working holiday makers – but so far not enough people have heeded the call to come Down Under to work.
“There‘s just not enough people to fill those shifts, so what’s inevitably happening is that hotels and restaurants are shutting their doors, because they don’t have enough people,” Accommodation Association of Australia president Leanne Harwood said.
The desperate plea from the industry comes as the federal government prepares a $7 million marketing campaign to attract foreign workers to Australia.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said 7000 international students had arrived between January 24 and January 30, joining about 49,000 others who have arrived since November.
Work rules have been relaxed for those students, making it possible to work extended hours in any sector.
Last week 2600 working holiday maker visa applications were lodged, and about 28,000 of those visas have been approved in the past few months.
“We all have a role to play in the economic recovery, filling vital skills shortages, and the Government is providing these incentives to encourage skilled workers to come to Australia now and fulfil these opportunities and participate in the phenomenal economic recovery that we are seeing in Australia right now,” Mr Hawke said.
Owner of Bondi Beach Backpackers, Richard O’Murphy said he had seen no improvement in very small number of guests seeking rooms throughout the pandemic.
“There’s still the same number of people circulating since the borders closed – in fact they’re getting less because people have gone home when their visas run out,” Mr O’Murphy said.
O’Murphy said he regularly fields calls from local businesses seeking staff, mostly in the hospitality and construction sectors.
“Backpackers was a dirty word – until recently I noticed. Now they’re saying ‘oh, we need the backpackers back’,” Mr O’Murphy said.
“There was probably two backpackers in every cafe and restaurant in the country. Now they’re not there.”
The federal government has tried to attract visitors by offering to refund visa application fees.
However, the government has its work cut out trying to convince international visitors to choose Australia, after two years of tough and swift border decisions that have separated families, up-ended plans, and cost many travellers dearly in cancelled booking fees.
Ms Harwood said she hoped the ad campaign would help put Australia back on the map as a tourist destination.
“There’s no doubt there’s a nervousness right now, about people wondering whether they can actually get on a plane and come to Australia right now,” she said.
“We need to get to a place where we have confidence in the market – and it’s not just internationally, it’s domestic as well. People haven’t been able to travel across the borders for so long, without being nervous about their ability to return.”
Hostel owner, Mr O’Murphy said he was confident the industry would bounce back, but agreed it would depend on people’s ability to get here and back.
In terms of flying into Australia, many travellers previously came from Europe on direct flights from London to Perth, Which WA’s strict border rules has disrupted.
Others came via the backpacker trial in South East Asia, which all but stopped when Covid hit, O’Murphy said.
Even as working holiday makers and international students are beginning to trickle in, people wanting to visit on other types of visas are not yet welcome.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison hinted last week tourists could be welcomed back before Easter.xjmtzyw
“Well, I can’t give you a specific date yet … and that’s because we’re just watching how Omicron is sort of washing over the eastern states,” he told 4CA radio in Cairns last week.
“I’d like to see us get there soon – certainly before Easter, well before Easter.”
Qantas boss Alan Joyce said on Friday keeping tourists out wasn’t “logical” anymore.
“(Blocking visitors) is causing damage to a lot of tourism around the country, places like Cairns, the inner city, places like Sydney and Melbourne, where we need to fill the hotels, to go to restaurants and cafes which are suffering,” he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“So we'd like to see this happening as soon as possible.”
