(Sydney) Australia reopened its external borders to all vaccinated tourists on Monday, almost two years after imposing some of the world’s toughest travel restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Posted at 7:28 p.m.
“The wait is over,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a news conference on Sunday.
“Pack your bags,” he told potential visitors to the island continent, adding to their address: “Remember to bring your money with you, as you will find plenty of places to spend it. “.
The first international flight to Sydney Airport landed from Los Angeles at 6:20 a.m. Australian time on Monday, followed by others from Tokyo, Vancouver and Singapore.
” Welcome ”
“We have all waited a long time for (this moment), said Alan Joyce, managing director of Qantas airline.
The flag carrier expects to bring more than 14,000 passengers into Australia this week.
But only 56 international flights were due to land in Australia within 24 hours of reopening, well below pre-pandemic levels, but Mr Morrison said he had “no doubt” that number will rise over time.
An opinion shared by Dan Tehan, Minister of Tourism, wearing a t-shirt with the word “Welcome” printed on it: “I think we are going to see a very, very strong recovery”.
The huge island had closed its borders in March 2020, trying to take advantage of its insularity to protect itself from the pandemic.
At first, for several months, this draconian closure and a strict screening and tracing policy made it possible to contain the effects of the virus.
But the arrival of the Omicron variant then aggravated the situation, leading to tens of thousands of contaminations and tens of deaths per day.
In total in almost two years, COVID-19 has killed 4,913 people in Australia. A total of 15,298 new cases were recorded there on Sunday, well below the historic peak of 277,619 cases on January 30.
During these two years, the Australians were, most of the time, not allowed to leave their country, and only a few visitors obtained an exemption to enter the territory, which earned the country the nickname of “fortress Australia”.
Drastic measures
These restrictions have separated families, hurt the tourism sector and sparked debates about Australia’s status as an open, modern and outward-looking country.
Closing borders has cost 2.27 billion euros each month, according to the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Even the world No.1 in tennis, Novak Djokovic, was not allowed to participate in the Australian Open last January because he was not vaccinated. The government expelled him after a long legal series.
In detail, travelers will not be able to reach the vast state of Western Australia on Monday, but will have to wait until March 3. In this region, the authorities have in recent months conducted a particularly strict so-called “zero COVID-19” policy, cutting it off from the rest of Australia.
To attract tourists, the Australian government launched a 40 million Australian dollar advertising campaign.
But the Australian Council (ATEC) responsible for international tourism spoke of “worrying signs” of the possible reluctance of foreigners to come to Australia, due to the various internal restrictions on travel, and the image that the draconian closure would have left. country for two years.