The number of UK travellers reached 82% of pre-pandemic levels in December – far ahead of the overall recovery rate of 60% for all international passengers to Australia during the festive month.

This momentum is set to continue after agents reported strong demand for Australia during the peaks booking period, while other data shows that the number of searches in January for flights down under was also well ahead of 2019 levels.

Sally Cope, Tourism Australia’s UK and Europe regional general manager, told TTG that the tourism office was “very pleased” after welcoming 97,000 Britons to the country during December 2022. The UK is Australia’s second largest international market after neighbouring New Zealand.

“We’re cautiously optimistic and keeping a very close eye on the market,” added Cope. “It does seem from our agents that we work closely with and from other research that people are still prioritising their holidays.

“In this environment with the cost of living challenges it does appear so far that in terms of discretionary spend the last thing to go is the annual holiday. We’re getting really good feedback from the industry.”

The number of UK visitors to Australia has been hovering around the 80% pre-Covid mark for several months, but this was initially driven by the high levels of VFR (visiting friends and relatives) travellers immediately after the reopening of borders in February 2022.

But a big bounce in the number of UK holidaymakers is now starting redress the balance back towards the typical pre-pandemic 50-50 split between VFR and leisure traffic to Australia.

Further good news for the trade is that customers are now staying longer in Australia compared to 2019, with the average number of nights increasing from 30 to 38 nights. They are also willing to spend more on their trips, despite the ongoing squeeze on household budgets.

“What Australia has to offer is really in the sweet spot of what people are looking for in a long-haul travel destination at the moment - wide open spaces, nature and wildlife, and also safety and security, as well as value for money,” added Cope.

Sporting spotlight

Tourism Australia is planning much of its marketing in the coming months and years around a host of major sporting events being hosted by the country – starting with the FIFA Women’s World Cup in July 2023.

Cope said the tourist office would be doing “some marketing” around the football tournament as well as Australia’s team, the Matildas, visit to London in April to play a game against England’s Lionesses.

It also plans to capitalise on the Australian government’s “decade of green and fold” when the country will host events such as the Ashes cricket tour in 2025, Commonwealth Games in Victoria in 2026, Rugby World Cup in 2027 and finally the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032. Cope said Tourism Australia would be using all these events as “drivers of tourism”.

Airline capacity

Australia’s rebound in travel from the UK can only continue its momentum with an increase in airline capacity between the two countries, which is currently at around 70 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

This still currently adds up to 171 flight options per day between the UK and Australia when you include a single stopover of up to five hours, but Cope admitted that more capacity is needed.

“Our challenge is aviation capacity – the demand is there,” she said. “Out of the UK, it’s a really competitive route with so many carriers flying down to our part of the world. There are lots of options but demand is so strong, we could do with some more.”

Cope is hopeful that with more carriers in the Far East reintroducing flights following China’s reopening it will free up seats on popular airline routes for Britons heading to Australia.

She added that while airfares have been rising, it did not seem to be discouraging UK travellers who have been increasing their average spend - not just through the higher price of flights but also by splashing out on their ground arrangements.

Marketing plans

Tourism Australia is continuing with its Come and Say G’day global marketing campaign, which was launched in October, as well as taking part in events such as TTG Media’s Aussie Fest at the end of March. 

“We’re committed to investing in this market – we’ve had multi-channel brand campaigns to drive demand and give airlines the confidence to get that extra capacity on to the route,” added Cope.

Tourism Australia is also concentrating on areas such as sustainable tourism, accessible travel, indigenous experiences around the country and appealing to market segments such as LGBT+ travellers.