Growth rate tourism GDP in Australia FY 2006-2021

After four consecutive years of around six percent growth from 2016 to 2019, businesses in the tourism industry could be forgiven for believing that 2020 would be another year of above-average growth. However, the coronavirus outbreak at the beginning of 2020 drastically altered predictions for the years to come, and tourism GDP in Australia took a massive plunge down to -36.7 percent in 2021 as a result.

 The state of the tourism industry in 2021 

The coronavirus pandemic had an enormous negative effect on the travel and tourism industry worldwide. In Australia, all major tourism-related industries reported a decline in GVA on the previous year. International visitors were also restricted from entering the country, resulting in a significant drop in revenue from international visitors. China, as the origin of the COVID-19 virus, was the first country to be subjected to travel bans. This was particularly damaging to the Australian economy due to the high volume of Chinese visitors that visit Australia for work, leisure, and study.  

 Hopes for a trans-Tasman travel bubble 

    Just as visitors to Australia were restricted, international travel for Australians become increasingly limited throughout 2020 and 2021. However, with New Zealand’s success at containing the virus, and incidents of COVID-19 in Australia declining at the end of April, the two countries opened negotiations for a “trans-Tasman travel bubble”. The concept would open travel for Australian and New Zealand residents across the Tasman sea, without the need to undergo quarantine in Australia or New Zealand. Unfortunately, after a second wave outbreak of coronavirus in Melbourne and subsequent outbreaks later in the year, the trans-Tasman bubble did not come to pass in 2020.