During the pandemic, the hospitality industry has to rethink the whole industry. There was a 99% backpackers reduction following travel restrictions, which led to new ideas.
In the Australian market, 250,000 jobs depend on holidaymaker arrivals. In short, travelers and backpackers generate around $3.2 billion for the Australian economy each year.
Although Australia is one of the best countries to work remotely, hospitality businesses had to readjust to cope with travel restrictions. Usually, the Australian government allows 44 countries to apply for working holidaymaker (WHM) visas.
The backpacker reduction highly impacted the Australian hospitality market. After the government opened borders in 2021, the situation changed. Almost 80,000 international students arrived in the country. In addition, 13,500 people came and the administration approved 35,000 WHM visas since November.
Since January 2022, the Federal Government has been promoting working holiday-maker visa fees for 12 weeks and international student visas for eight weeks.
According to YHA, these are initiatives to cope with backpacker reduction after the pandemic:
- Drifter Hospitality Group: Partnering with Intrepid Travel, the world’s largest adventure travel company, it offers hostel accommodation across Australia and New Zealand.
- Event Hospitality: After Rydges, QT, and Atura hotel brands, it entered the hostel accommodation industry. With its unique capsule-style sleeping pods, the brand aims to revolutionize the hostel industry.
- Selina Melbourne: It provides a 181-bed hostel including a library, cinema room, dining and kitchen area, basement bar, and co-working space. The new asset takes inspiration from the co-working and remote work revolution.