Aussies will be able to travel to New Zealand without quarantining in 2021 and I’m sure to be on the first flight out!
Yesterday afternoon, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave the green light for a travel bubble with Australia.
The long-awaited deal will kick off early next year, allowing Aussies to cross the Tasman without needing to quarantine.
In a post-Cabinet press conference, Prime Minister Ardern announced that a specific date won’t be named until the new year. “The opening of the bubble is contingent on Australia’s Cabinet signing it off, and that the COVID-19 situation in either country doesn’t change,” she informed the press.
The announcement was welcomed enthusiastically by Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt: “we knew there would come a time when our case numbers gave them confidence.”
bye bitches I’m moving to new zealand pic.twitter.com/UcGJjfUzN0
— thomas the train (@thomasbtw_) December 14, 2020
This bubble is set to revitalise the tourism industry in both countries. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Qantas have only been operating two flights per week between Sydney and Auckland despite “a huge amount of pent-up demand for travel.”
new zealand please pic.twitter.com/WKL29q1Huc
— marceline! (webby brainrot) (@vandebright) December 14, 2020
In 2019, Aussie tourists made up 40% of visitors to New Zealand, with 1.5 million passengers journeying across the Tasman in either direction.
Australia and New Zealand are having fun, meanwhile the US & UK are like: pic.twitter.com/SilKATHjpC
— Drums Down Under (@DrumsDownUnder) December 14, 2020
The two-way bubble will update the one-way bubble established in October, which allowed Kiwis to travel to NSW and NT with only mandatory quarantine upon returning home.
So, fingers crossed, there isn’t another outbreak because you better believe I’ll be on the first flight to Queenstown for a Fergburger.
