12 June 2009

Travelling to Australia more secure

The Australian Department of Infrastructure has launched a new web site designed to help domestic and international travellers learn more about the security measures in place at Australian airports.

TravelSECURE explains aviation security regulations for those travelling to Australia in simple terms and includes videos, graphics, and other material.

The site will help travellers prepare for their trip and clear the security checks at Australian airports as efficiently as possible.

Key pages have also been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.

The site is especially handy for international tourists visiting Australia who do not know the rules about liquids, aerosol and gels, or who have no experience with Australain passenger and baggage screening processes.

TravelSECURE also provides advice for travelling with children, laptops, medicines and sports equipment.

TravelSECURE has a section where travel agents can obtain information and ready-to-use text for e-ticket itineraries and boarding passes, frequently asked questions and access to fact sheets and videos from the ‘information for travellers’ section of the site.

The new site complements existing resources such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Smartraveller website.

Most travellers to Australia – apart from New Zealanders - will need to apply for an Australian holiday visa to enter the country for tourism purposes.  For those from eligible countries, the ETA visa is a simple, instantaneous holiday visa that allows people to holiday in Australia for up to three months.  For all others, an Australian travel visa is necessary for a holiday in Australia, which will allow the holder to travel in Australia for up to twelve months and study for up to three of those twelve months.

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The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people with Australian visas applications.