01 February 2008

More students 'choosing Australia working holiday for gap years'

Australia is becoming an increasingly popular destination for students on their gap years, according to Gapyear.com. The increase in interest is being put down to the extension of the working holiday visa, which can be applied for through the Australia working holiday visa online assessment.

Tom Griffiths, founder of Gapyear.com, said "We're seeing some really good activity in the Australian market at the moment. The Australian working holiday visa was extended to two years about two years ago, and the message has got through…they had good numbers last year. It was stagnant and falling slowly for about three years and suddenly it's just gone up." He added that STA travel has reported record numbers of long haul round-the-world tickets for last year and "Australia is the number on destination".

An increase in people choosing to go on an Australia working holiday is beneficial to the country as it is currently suffering from a skills shortage in many professions. Builders have recently voiced concerns over the situation and people working in trades have been encouraged to look at the Australian Migration Occupation on Demand List (MODL) for their profession.

Interested in going on a working holiday to Australia? Visa Bureau makes the process easy, offering clients a number of exclusive offers. Take the online assessment today.