New Zealand welcomes the world back as tourism restarts

Wellington, March 17 (BNA): New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday that her country is “ready to welcome the world back” with most tourists allowed to return by May as the country continues to ease coronavirus restrictions.

The announcement of the date that tourists from countries including the United States, Canada, Britain and most of Europe can visit came from the previously announced date in October.

International tourism accounted for about 20% of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5% of GDP.

But when the pandemic began, New Zealand enacted some of the strictest border controls in the world and tourism evaporated. These measures were initially credited with saving thousands of lives and allowing New Zealand to eliminate or contain many outbreaks.

But with the omicron variant now spreading across the country, border restrictions have become largely irrelevant.

Ardern said the move would boost the economy.

“Closing our borders was one of the first measures we took to stop COVID-19 in more than two years, and reopening them will spur our economic recovery throughout the remainder of the year,” she said.

Under the new schedule, tourists from Australia will be able to visit from April 12, and tourists from other visa-exempt countries can visit from May 1.

Tourists from non-exempt countries including India and China will need to wait longer unless they already have valid visitor visas.

The Associated Press reports that tourists should be vaccinated and tested negative for the virus before leaving their home country and again after arriving in New Zealand.

“I know from visiting the tour operators, and speaking to their staff, how difficult the past two years have been,” Ardern said.

“Not only because of the massive loss of tourism revenue, but because we lost something from which we drew so much of our identity,” she said.

New Zealand is known for its beautiful landscapes and adrenaline-pumping adventure tourism. The announcement comes as a timely boost to ski slopes trying to plan for the upcoming winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

“Tourism operators are finally getting confirmation that they can get back to work,” said Anne Marie Johnson, a spokeswoman for the tourism industry in Aotearoa. Tourism was the first industry affected by the epidemic and will be the last to recover. Tourism operators, large and small alike, have made huge sacrifices but can now focus on rebuilding their business.”

Over the past two weeks, New Zealand has reported about 20,000 new cases of the virus each day, the largest outbreak since the pandemic began. The country’s COVID-19 response minister on Wednesday became the latest high-profile person to be tested positive.

But experts expect the Omicron outbreak to fade quickly from its peak, as it has in many other countries.

FA