Wednesday, March 16, 2022
New Zealand PM JacindaArdern said that her country is ready to welcome back tourists with easing of coronavirus restrictions.
International tourism accounts for around 20 per cent of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than five per cent of GDP.
With the onset of the pandemic, New Zealand imposed some of the strictest border controls in the world; however, this wreaked havoc on tourism. The measures were initially imposed to savethousands of lives and they allowed New Zealand to remove or curb several outbreaks.
Ardern said that the move is expected to boost the economy.
“Closing our border was one of the first actions we took to stop COVID-19 over two years ago, and its reopening will spur our economic recovery throughout the remainder of the year,” she said.
Under the new timeline, tourists from Australia will be able to visit from April 12 and tourists from other visa-waiver countries can visit from May 1. Tourists from non-waiver countries including India and China will, however, require to wait longer, unless they already carryeffective visitor visas.
Tourists need to be vaccinated and test negative for the virus before leaving their home country and again get tested after arriving in New Zealand.
New Zealand is renowned for its enchanting scenery and adrenalin-inducing adventure tourism. With this announcement, it’s a timely boost to ski fields who are planning for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere winter.
Tourism operators are hopeful that they can get back to business, said Ann-Marie Johnson, a spokesperson for Tourism Industry Aotearoa. Tourism was the first industry to be affected by the pandemic and will be the last to recuperate.
Tags: new zealand
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