AFTA UPDATE

From the Australian Federation of Travel Agents

TODAY is the last day of winter. It’s just 116 days to Christmas. Where has this year gone?

Importantly, the green buds of international travel resuming are starting to appear and multiply.

Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan confirmed a travel bubble with Singapore will be “ready to go” as soon as Australia achieves that milestone of 80% double vaxxed.

You may have seen the comments from our Chair Tom Manwaring in The Australian newspaper over the weekend on the growing confidence that by mid-2022, a strong travel overseas travel pattern will be in place.

This follows the announcement from Qantas that it is targeting December for a resumption of overseas flights.

We need more people vaccinated more quickly so that we reach the 80% threshold as soon as possible.

Our members are back, rolling up our (mostly Zoom) sleeves, lobbying their local members of Parliament on the need for ongoing and wider support as well as incentives and campaigns to encourage Australians to #GetTravelReady.

The resilience of our sector and our people is proven time and time again not just through this current challenge.

Now more than ever we need to continue to keep the fight going and we are very, very grateful for the many messages of support we receive each and every day.

We are even more grateful for the ongoing membership renewals as we keep up the good fight. There has never been a more important time for the professionalism of our industry sector to continue to meet the daily challenges.

The near future will confirm the needs of our travel-consumers will be best served by us!

Without a travel agent you are on your own.