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Anyone arriving on a plane or ship to Australia is handed an Incoming Passenger Card to fill in declaring where they will stay and what goods they have brought into the country.
This is an “antiquated” system that needs to be scrapped and a new more efficient one found, a travel industry peak body said.
Australia risks losing its reputation as a desirable destination for overseas tourists, if the experience of travelling through air and seaports isn’t improved, the Australian Chamber of Commerce’s tourism arm said in a new report.
“The government needs to embrace technology and streamline systems such as abolishing the outdated Incoming Passenger Card, when the passenger information can be provided by travel providers and travel agents,” the organisation’s executive chair John Hart said.
He also said tourism is too valuable a commodity to risk losing visitors.
“We should back ourselves to grow international tourism and generate return visitation to our great country.”
Hart also said the Tourism Refund Scheme, which requires visitors to queue and fill in paperwork to get GST refunded, was causing unnecessary delays and needs to be modernised.
The report recommends making multiple-entry visas available for key markets and investing in “passenger on the move” technology as an alternative to the SmartGate system.
A Sydney Airport spokesman told the Australian newspaper staff had been working closely with government to make improvements at the border.
“In the second quarter this year during the morning peak, it took almost an hour for arriving international passengers to get off the aircraft and through the border,” the spokesperson reportedly said.
“That’s too long, and we look forward to working with the government and Border Force to improve the experience for international travellers arriving at Sydney Airport.”
Any decision on airport processes would be made by the federal government.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce’s tourism arm says it has delivered the federal government its report.