Backpackers to the Rescue

Backpackers to the Rescue

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May 05, 2011 – As a huge boost for the local economy, a horde of backpackers will meet on the Coast in the coming weeks as strawberry season is looming.
These would mean that many backpackers would then be applying for work visa Australian or Australian work holiday visa.
Backpackers on working holiday visas have made it their popular employment choice, the fruit picking. Backpackers who are required to complete three months of specified work in a regional area are also able to apply for a second visa.
James Ashby, Gowinta Strawberry Farm’s marketing manager, stated with the more than 1200 inquiries about the upcoming season, he had been flooded with these inquiries and with the current number of backpackers on the payroll during the planting period.
Mr. Ashby said “It’s encouraging to see the backpackers coming back to the Sunshine Coast in their droves.’’
He also added that they were also a little concerned after the January floods that backpacker numbers would also be down. However, the inquiry rate and online applications for work have been unbelievably massive.
Mr. Ashby further commented, “It’s good for the local economy because whatever they earn here they generally spend here and we get some people staying as far away as Noosa, but most are staying in Cotton Tree, Mooloolaba and Caloundra.”
As the largest of the Coast’s strawberry farms, Gowinta will require up to 350 pickers this season to pick across the farm’s 170 acres.
Zeke Rowland, Mooloolaba and Caloundra Backpackers manager, said that the backpackers- turn-fruit pickers were a vital part of the hostels’ annual schedule and they had also established a solid working relationship with the region’s farms.
Mr. Rowland said, “We received heaps of inquiries as soon as we advertised there was work available. It’s the best place in Australia to do farm work there’s nowhere else where you can go to work picking fruit then come home in the afternoon and grab your board and go for a surf.”
Mr. Rowland also said that fruit picking has carried them through and if they did not have it, they would be half as busy through winter.
He further said that Mooloolaba and Caloundra Backpackers had employed their staff full-time all year round and believes that they and the farms have a reciprocal relationship for they have been helping each other.
According to Pippa McCreery, Sunshine Coast Destination Limited acting CEO, the Sunshine Coast’s beaches have been a huge attraction for the backpacker market.
She explained that backpackers are a valuable market for Australia’s tourism industry on the Sunshine Coast for the most part given their length of stay in various regions.
“The past year has been challenging for this sector given the high Australian dollar, but despite this, the Sunshine Coast is the perfect destination for the backpacker and youth market,” Ms. McrCreery said.
She then also added that they are only one hour north of Brisbane so they are accessible and serve as a gateway to Fraser Island and they offer a very safe destination with plenty to see and do.