Within the country, Western Australia has seen the highest population growth compared to other states
FCM Travel, a leading business travel company, says that it has seen a large increase in skilled workers and working holiday travellers entering Australia, with business travellers from India, China, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom having an average increase of travel into Australia of 98.5 pc in 2023, compared to the previous year.
FCM Travel said that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported the biggest-ever jump over a single year in Australia’s population, adding 518,000 people in the 2023 financial year, registering a growth of 73 pc over the net arrivals in the year 2022.
The ABS has highlighted an annual increase of 6.9 pc in skilled (permanent) visas, the highest increase of all permanent visas, while working holiday visas increased by nearly 50 pc.
The ABS report also shows that the top five countries of birth contributing to net overseas migration as India, China, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Head of Business Transformation and Customer Excellence at FCM Travel Rakesh Negi says that business travel had grown significantly in 2023, driven by the education, mining, health, construction, and government sectors.
Rakesh Negi
“Over the last 12 months we have seen large growth in inbound business travel bookings, with travel from the Philippines, New Zealand, South Africa and China at least doubling compared to 2022. This is closely followed by inbound business travel from countries such as the United States which has grown by 93 pc, and India and the UK by 73 pc and 72 pc respectively,” says Negi.
“As Australia reopened its borders in February 2022, business travellers have flocked back to our shores in droves. The growth we’re seeing in corporate travel speaks to the increasing level of skilled workers entering the country – both on permanent and temporary working arrangements,’’ Negi adds.
“Sydney and Melbourne remain the most popular destination points, but as we see an increase in travel in the mining sector, travel into key mining destinations such as Perth, and even Brisbane, has grown,” he says.
Within the country, Western Australia has seen the highest population growth compared to other states as it added 3.1 pc to its total population in 2023 compared to 2022. This was followed by Victoria, up 2.7 pc and Queensland that has risen by 2.6 pc.
“Australia has long been an attractive country to international businesspeople, for the lifestyle of course, but also for our globally connected and stable economy, and our safety and reliability as an international trade partner,” Negi added.
