Australia and New Zealand are in talks to reopen borders for each other only. This in essence will create a ‘travel bubble’ between the two nations, as both are in control of their respective coronavirus outbreak.
Much like the rest of the world, Australia and New Zealand’s tourism have taken a hard knock. The travel corridor may be able to salvage both industries, to an extent.
There is no set date for when this travel endeavour will become a reality, according to CNN. Domestic travel restrictions are still in place in both countries, despite the progress made in containing the outbreak. International arrivals are required to self-quarantine for 14 days too.
Travel industry experts have guesstimated that the travel bubble could be instated come August. This would be in time for the September school holidays and for New Zealand’s ski season. Last week New Zealand announced that it had ‘effectively eliminated’ the coronavirus.
With regards to opening borders with Australia, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement: ‘That is a situation we would all like to be in, but of course, our number one focus at the moment is making sure that both our countries are in the position where we’re domestically managing Covid-19 to a point where we can with confidence open borders. One thing I’m not willing to do is jeopardize the position that New Zealand has got itself into by moving too soon to open our borders, even to Australia.’
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