Australia has announced that it will reopen its borders for international travel before the end of the year.
A statement released by the tourism minister, Dan Tehan, confirms that the border will be reopened for international tourism before Christmas. The minister says that "Australians will be free to travel internationally by Christmas at the latest, in keeping with the government’s national re-opening plan."
According to the Minister, "Australians will be able to travel with no restrictions once the vaccination rate hits 80% of the adult population."
“I do empathize with the Australians who have been denied the opportunity to travel overseas this year, It’s another reason why everyone should get vaccinated and we have to stick to the national plan that will see our international border open up – at this rate by Christmas at the latest,” Tehan says.
“The government is now working to get all the required systems and processes ready and in place to allow people to freely leave and return to Australia. We’re doing that preparatory work to make sure that when those international borders open, hopefully at the latest by Christmas, Australians will be able to travel with a QR Code linked to their passport, which will be able to show proof of vaccination.”
The minister added that “the vaccine passport QR codes will begin being issued from next month, the code will live within a phone app, and contain all the same information as your regular passport, as well as your COVID-19 health information.”
People will be able to freely travel outside Australia with no restrictions under the national plan governing the country’s emergence from COVID-19. Australia would still be subject to rules governing the countries they visit.
Any traveler planning to visit Australia must be fully vaccinated with a recognized vaccine such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson for at least 14 days before entering the country.
The government is exploring opening travel bubbles with several countries to reduce quarantine time and hopes home quarantine will be operational. Tehan says.
Australian Airports Association chief executive, James Goodwin had earlier in the month warned that government must prioritize the recognition of non-Australian vaccine certificates ahead of the international re-start, to allow for tourists to enter Australia.
The QR vaccine passport system is only being set up for vaccines approved in Australia, including the Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccines at the moment.
“While it’s great that our Medicare vaccine certificates could be synced with our passports, we need to be working to recognize vaccines that were administered overseas, so that we can finally once again welcome tourists, and give relief to those industries most affected by the lack of tourism,”
Goodwin also called on the government to clarify its planned procedures and requirements around post-pandemic travel “as soon as possible”, so the aviation industry can adequately prepare.
“At the moment, we still don’t know what procedures will be for passengers coming in from overseas, and what is needed of airports, airlines, staff, and government agencies to facilitate that.”
“There are long lead times in aviation, so 6 or 12 months is not actually a long time in our world. So a lot of this planning could have and should have been done a long time ago,” he stated.
Share this:
Post a Comment