Fresh from delivering the Budget on Tuesday night, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg addressed the National Press Club yesterday, admitting international borders are likely to remain “…largely closed off until late next year.”
“The economic forecast and the Budget are made by Treasury on the best available evidence today. Namely, that the domestic outbreaks of the virus continue to emerge but are largely contained and that large-scale lockdowns are avoided and restrictions continue to ease,” Frydenberg said.
However, he added, with many countries experiencing second waves of the pandemic, “International travel, including by tourists and international students, is assumed to remain largely closed off until late next year and then gradually return over time, and a vaccine to be available around the end of 2021 is one of the assumptions in the budget.”
Domestic tourism is a focus of the government’s economic road to recovery, with the Budget delivering $250 million to a Regional Tourism Recovery Package and Tourism Australia receiving $231.6 million for marketing domestic travel and tourism in the short term, and for marketing to attract international travellers once our borders re-open to overseas visitors.
IMAGE: Tourism Australia
