The first Fiji Airways flights from Canberra to Nadi on 21 July marked the long-awaited return of international flights after the pandemic. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Andrew Barr has set his sights on bringing more overseas tourists to the ACT and hopes to entice more international airlines to Canberra.
“We are pursuing a number of opportunities both with domestic and international partners,” Mr Barr told annual reports hearings.
The Chief Minister said there would be a “real focus on India and China” in 2024 as two of the largest international tourism markets.
“China is the biggest market, India close second, but I think both have very strong prospects and I imagine they will be the number one and two international markets, so it will be a focus for the territory government in 2024,” he said.
Mr Barr said that he would be meeting with “a delegation of Chinese airline leaders” in Canberra in the coming weeks and would also be visiting China next year to strengthen the relationship.
Visit Canberra executive branch manager Jonathan Kobus said international spending is up $98 million since March 2023, “largely due to the recovery of our key international markets”.
“In particular India, which is now 130 per cent of what it was in 2019, driven by improved access to Australia from India, and Canberra is the beneficiary of that,” he said.
“And we anticipate that the international market will continue to return and grow in a positive direction.”
Mr Barr said the Chinese tourism market is still recovering, but it’s now beginning to return to pre-COVID levels.
According to the latest ABS data, the ACT welcomed 1380 short-term arrivals from China in September 2023, compared with 1440 in September 2019.
“You may have noticed there has been an improvement in the Australia-China relationship and Australia is now back accredited as an approved destination,” Mr Barr said.
“So obviously, the deterioration in the relationship between the two [countries] led to a number of trade sanctions, included in that was travel, and so we saw in tourism … China was our number one market and that market almost completely collapsed as a result of COVID and the economic and political difficulties.
“That’s now on a path to recovery.”
Beyond China and India, Mr Barr said the ACT Government is also looking to several other key markets, including the US and Canada, which are now more accessible from Canberra thanks to the new Fiji Airways service to Nadi launched in July this year.
“We’ve been working with Tourism Australia in the North American market and undertook a recent trade mission that had a particular focus on partnerships with Fiji Airways,” he said.
“New Zealand, traditionally as one of the top five inbound markets into Australia, is another focus for us,” Mr Barr said.
Mr Barr said the announcement that Qantas will be deploying its new A220 aircraft in Canberra could provide an opportunity to expand flights across the Tasman.
“The New Zealand opportunity, we think, is best placed with Qantas when their new A220 aircraft comes into service,” he said.
“They’ve announced that the first such aircraft that they’ll take to renew their fleet is coming to Australia soon, and they’re going to deploy it on the Canberra-Melbourne route, which we’re delighted to hear.
“But as they add new aircraft into the fleet, that A220 has the capacity to comfortably fly to Auckland, and at around 137 seats, it’s the right-sized aircraft for our market.”
While there appear to be plenty of opportunities on the horizon, Canberra’s aviation industry is still fighting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s been somewhat of a shake-out of the international aviation market. Significant players are still rebuilding both their fleet and their staffing capabilities,” Mr Barr said.
He said one thing holding Australia’s aviation industry back has been the lack of pilots, crew engineers, baggage handlers and other personnel, but the “outlook … is quite positive”.
Mr Barr said there would be an emphasis on low-cost airlines as people look for cheaper ways to travel.
“The other element of our focus has been on low-cost aviation because beyond Sydney … our next biggest markets generally require people to fly here,” he said.
“So having low-cost carriers and more competition in aviation is important to be able to attract them and we’ve had some success there.”
Mr Barr said the ACT Government would continue its engagement with airlines such as Bonza and Jetstar to expand the range of services they provide and look to Virgin Australia and Rex in the international sphere.
The Chief Minister said he will meet with Singapore Airlines in the next month, which previously operated flights from Canberra Airport.
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