However, the prerequisite is a complete vaccination against the coronavirus and a negative, maximum 72 hours old PCR test on departure. Australia’s Minister of Commerce, Dan Tehan, hopes that the easing of entry regulations will give the tourism industry a big boost.
In April, the two island states created a bilateral corridor for quarantine-free travel – the “Trans-Tasman bubble”. This was suspended in July due to rising corona numbers in Australia. It was initially unclear whether New Zealand would relax the regulations for travelers from Down Under again. It is also unclear when tourists from all over the world can travel to Australia again.
As previously announced, fully vaccinated Australian citizens and people residing on the fifth continent will be able to travel more freely again from Monday. Many Australians living abroad have not been able to visit relatives and friends in their homeland since the beginning of the pandemic because the costs for flights and quarantine were extremely high and permits were difficult to come by. Conversely, the approximately 25 million inhabitants of Australia were largely stuck in the country.
Both Australia and New Zealand have long pursued a zero Covid strategy and largely kept their external borders closed to international travel. Ultimately, however, they had to admit that even this drastic strategy did not have the desired effect in the long term.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, around 165,000 corona infections and more than 1,700 deaths related to Covid-19 have been confirmed in Australia. Measured against the 25 million people living in the country, the rate was significantly higher than in New Zealand, where the virus was much better under control. So far there have only been about 6,000 proven infections and 28 deaths for every five million inhabitants.
