Two very popular travel destinations for Australians – Thailand and New Zealand – have each dramatically eased entry requirements, from today onwards.
THAILAND, a favourite leisure destination for Aussies, no longer requires compulsory Covid-19 tests for vaccinated travellers.
The kingdom is keen to revive its tourism industry. Thailand (like New Zealand) quickly imposed border restrictions when the pandemic struck, helping cut infections and deaths in 2020. Since then, however, the tight border restrictions have hit its vital tourism industry very hard.
From today onwards (2 May 2022) fully vaccinated visitors to Thailand no longer have to take a test on arrival and wait in a hotel room for the result.
Authorities say visitors will now only need to show proof of vaccination and health insurance coverage of at least US$10,000.
“This will propel the economic (recovery) momentum since we are a country that relies quite heavily on tourism,” Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha told news agency AFP.
Unvaccinated travellers still face hurdles. They will have to show a negative test result taken within 72 hours of departure for Thailand – or undergo five days of hotel quarantine and a test.
Thailand last month dropped the requirement for mandatory pre-arrival Covid tests.
NEW ZEALAND has now reopened its border to vaccinated visitors from visa waiver countries. It was already open to vaccinated Australians and to some international students.
Like Thailand, New Zealand reacted quickly when the pandemic arrived. New Zealand slammed its borders shut to anyone without citizenship or residency. It did that way back in March 2020, before anyone in New Zealand had died of Covid-19.
Now that borders are open, Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran said yesterday he expected nearly 1000 people would arrive on the first three new flights from overseas, which would originate in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fiji.
Radio New Zealand reported Foran saying the airline had faced staffing challenges in preparing for the influx of international visitors and would have preferred more notice.
Travel between New Zealand and Australia is reviving. Each country remains the main visitor supplier to the other, though the pandemic and consequent lockdowns vastly reduced the visitor flow over the past couple of years.
In other travel news from across the Tasman, new, more accurate Covid tests – known technically as LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification) – are to be tried at Auckland Airport. They are said to be more accurate than RATs (rapid antigen tests) and can be self-administered, returning results in 30 minutes. Initial trials will be limited to 30 Air NZ staff, the NZ Herald reports.
Meanwhile, Air New Zealand will begin building a new aircraft hangar at Auckland Airport in a project to centralise its Auckland workforce there.
“The four-year investment will create a world-class aviation facility for Air New Zealand employees and its aircraft as the airline rebuilds,” the airline announced.
Moving the Auckland city office to the airport is expected to consolidate office space and cut costs by 20% over 15 years. The move is likely to occur in 2024.
Written by Peter Needham
Thailand and New Zealand ease border entry from today
Rate:
