Ring out the bells, Australia will open border in two weeks

The travel industry has expressed delight and relief at the decision to fling open Australia’s international borders, without quarantine, for the first time in almost two years, from 21 February 2022, the Monday after next.
Qantas shares surged 5% yesterday on news of the border reopening while Flight Centre shares leapt 8%, Yahoo Finance reported.
International travel has shrunk to a pale ghost of its former self, running at just 15% of pre-Covid levels.
The border decision will see Australia steal a big march on New Zealand, which on its current timeline won’t have its borders fully open till October and until then will require visitors to self-isolate for 7 or 10 days on arrival.
Australia’s border announcement yesterday carries a couple of provisos:

• People need to have had two doses of a Covid vaccine to be allowed in.
• Any unvaccinated travellers will have to apply for an exemption before they travel to Australia and will need to undergo hotel quarantine at their own expense if granted permission to enter the country.

Travel industry groups welcomed the move, with AFTA also calling for more detail, saying it needed to understand State and Territory governments’ positions.
The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) said internationally focused Australian tourism businesses could now “breathe a sigh of relief and finally begin the long path to rebuilding their markets”.
“Australian tourism businesses will rejoice,” ATEC managing director Peter Shelley commented.
“It’s been a long hard and desperate road for every tourism business across the country and we have lost many along the way, but this news will give those who have survived a clear target to work towards and a start point for the rebuilding of the industry.
“With close to two years with our borders closed our industry has lost tens of billions of dollars in export revenue and we welcome the border reopening as an opportunity to regain some of Australia’s tourism market share.
Shelley said while the border reopening was the top priority for the industry, the damage has been devastating and every part of the industry will need support to reboot successfully.
“Australia is an incredible destination and one that enjoyed a place at the top of the global travel bucket list prior to Covid closing our borders back in March 2020, and we can see a strong future for our industry.
“While other destinations are already back online and welcoming visitors, Australia has been off the global destination list for quite some time and there is significant pent-up demand as we look forward.
“But the challenge for our industry is to meet this demand successfully and that will involve tourism businesses rebuilding their lost capacity, product, service skills and supply chains.
“Given the tourism industry has taken a devastating hit to its skills base, experience, expertise and global sales networks, we urge the Government to outline a significant funding commitment to our industry in next month’s budget as a sign of its support for what has been a hugely valuable economic contributor for more than a decade.”
Australian Airports Association (AAA) chief executive James Goodwin said airports would be ready to welcome back international tourists as soon as the border reopened on 21 February.
“This is the exciting announcement the aviation sector has been waiting for,” Goodwin said.
“Airports will be critical to ensuring the logistics associated with resuming international travel will be successfully managed and look forward to working with the government agencies involved.”

“International travel is only at 15% of pre-Covid levels so this is a positive step to help the recovery of the aviation and tourism sectors.”
Goodwin added that the return of international travellers will also be a much-needed boost for domestic routes.
“In pre-Covid times 30% of domestic air travellers were international passengers,” Goodwin said.
“International tourists don’t just visit one Australian city. They fly from state to state to see all of what our nation has to offer so it is vital all domestic borders reopen and stay open.”
Travellers are being reminded to do their homework before they fly to ensure they have all the information they need before they get to the airport.
“Travel has changed since the pandemic hit two years ago with many people not flying for some time,” Goodwin said.
“We encourage travellers to do their research to ensure a safe, enjoyable trip for all.”
Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) chief executive, Dean Long, said:
“The re-opening of our international border to all fully vaccinated travellers from 21 February after more than 700 days is a massive step forward towards travel returning to normal.”
“AFTA looks forward to understanding more detail around the commitment including the response from State and Territory Governments and the details of the vaccine recognition as well as the testing and quarantine requirements.
“We are very grateful that the Federal Government has made the announcement to lift the ban and open our international borders. These next two quarters will be the toughest for Australia’s Travel Sector yet and we will only start seeing revenue benefit flow after international travel normalises.”
“AFTA has and will continue to push for the support that the Travel Sector needs. We have again been in Canberra to brief on our Pre-Budget Submission and call for a $190 million Travel Sector Skills Retention and Recovery Package including the immediate distribution of the estimated $66 million already allocated but not distributed. The Prime Minister’s announcement does not change the need for this support.”
“AFTA is also hosting a webinar this Thursday on how to maximise meetings with your local MP. Don’t forget to email meetyourmp@afta.com.au so we can reinforce by following up your meeting.”
Written by Peter Needham