Open border between Australia’s two biggest economic powerhouses great for business, says Flight Centre MD

Flight Centre Travel Group’s Australian managing director has welcomed the reopening of the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

Under the new arrangement, fully-vaccinated travellers from either state will not be required to be tested or undertake quarantine in order to visit NSW or Victoria.

FCTG’s James Kavanagh said the return of free movement between the states after more than six months of travel restrictions will mean so much to big business and SMEs that have been desperate to return to interstate trading and recruiting.

“Sydney and Melbourne are two-thirds of Australia’s golden triangle, and to have that two-way lane back open is another brick in the rebuilding of the nation’s economic wall,” he said.

“To put it into context, both NSW and Victoria made up 55 per cent of the share of the national economy in 2019-20.

“We’ve long championed that vaccinations are our path to freedom and that’s coming to fruition. It’s an exciting time for businesses and corporate travellers as our two biggest states emerge from lockdowns for what will hopefully be the last time.

Kavanagh said a recent survey by FCTG revealed just how resilient Melbourne and Sydney SMEs have been during the current lockdowns.

“More than a quarter have not been impacted by the lockdowns at all, while 53 per cent say they will focus on bouncing back when restrictions ease,” he said.

Among the 53 per cent of SMEs that have been impacted but will bounce back after the lockdowns, most will focus on growing their sales, scaling their customer offering and recovering their internal resources to handle new sales, according to the survey findings.

Specifically, 42 per cent of those surveyed say they will put more of their time, budget and resources into new customer sales, marketing or changing their sales model.

A fifth (20 per cent) will mostly focus on changing or growing their product or service offering, while 19 per cent will focus on bringing resources back into the business, such as stood-down employees.