According to a news.com.au and NZ Herald report, just weeks after opening the trans-Tasman travel bubble across the ditch with Australia, New Zealand has a new corridor on the cards, with reportedly, a NZ and Cook Islands travel bubble tipped to open on May 16, with speculation in the Cook Islands that Sunday, May 16 is understood to be the big day set to be announced by the government after a Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the announcement this afternoon would bring “ultimately good news” for both the New Zealand and the Cook Islands, just weeks after the highly anticipated trans-Tasman travel bubble kicked off.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told media today that New Zealand made up a large part of the island nation’s tourism and this was a move the government had been working on for some time, adding, “We wanted to make sure when we do it, we got it right,” and “We didn’t want to run the risk of exporting (COVID-19) to the Cook Islands, which has been COVID-free.”
Cook Islands media have also reported that today’s announcement would reveal a two-way travel bubble opening up around May 15 – that is next Saturday as the Cooks Islands are one day behind NZ time).
In addition Air New Zealand is reported to be already selling return flights and Cook Islands private sector task force chairman Fletcher Melvin told the Cook Islands News publication that a government source had confirmed that date.
here is currently a one-way travel bubble with the Cook Islands – allowing residents to enter New Zealand without having to quarantine for 14 days, with the Cook Islands one of the few countries in the Pacific, including Tonga, Samoa and Niue, that have been and remain completely free of the virus in the community.
Ms Ardern’s comments follow a visit from Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, who became the first international leader to be welcomed on to New Zealand soil since the pandemic turned the world upside down, with Mr Brown, who visited in March, telling media then that they were ready for business and for the two-way bubble to start some time in May.
An edited report from news.com.au and New Zealand Herald by John Alwyn-Jones Special Correspondent Travel and Tourism
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