Australia opens borders after two years of “fortress”-level Covid curbs

More than 20 international flights are expected to touch down at Sydney Airport today as Australia’s international borders reopen.

After closing in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-awaited reopening will allow vaccinated tourists and visa holders to enter the country.

Vegemite and Tim Tams were on offer to passengers who were the first to land this morning.

NSW Tourism Industry Council executive manager Greg Binskin said the reopening of the country’s border to tourists was great news and gave businesses the certainty to plan ahead.

He acknowledged that it could take a few months for long-haul tourists from places such as Europe and the United States to make the journey but, in the interim, it was all about family reunions.

“Two years without reconnecting to family is a long time,” he said.

“So we’ll start seeing visiting friends start to come first, then followed by leisure as people start to plan their leave as we’re a long-haul destination.”

‘Fortress Australia’

Australia closed its borders to almost everyone except citizens and residents in March 2020 in an attempt to slow surging Covid-19 case numbers.

The travel ban — which also barred citizens from travelling overseas without an exemption and imposed a strict cap on international arrivals — earned the country the nickname “Fortress Australia”.

Every month under the policies has cost businesses an estimated Aus$3.6 billion (US$2.6 billion), according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with tourism particularly hard hit.

Tony Walker, managing director of Quicksilver Group, which operates cruises, diving excursions and resorts across the Great Barrier Reef, told AFP he was “very excited about being able to re-open”.

International tourists “make up around 70 percent” of business for tourism operators on the reef, Walker said, making the two-year border closure “incredibly difficult”.

During the pandemic, his company had to reduce its employees from 650 to the 300 it has today.

Morrison on Sunday said tourism had “really borne the brunt of this Covid pandemic” and he thanked the sector.

No west just yet

Western Australia will not re-open to international travellers on Monday, holding off until March 3.

Until recently, the state had pursued a strict Covid-zero policy, cutting itself off from the rest of Australia.

The decision sparked lawsuits — and the observation it was easier for Australians to travel to Paris than Perth — but proved popular with West Australians.

Announcing the re-opening date for triple-vaccinated travellers, state Premier Mark McGowan said “there comes a point where the border is redundant, because we’ll already have the growth of cases here”.

Morrison welcomed Western Australia’s re-opening and defended his own decision to shut Australia’s borders to the world for two years.

He said it “was incredibly important and that helped us achieve in this country what few others could around the world. We have one of the lowest rates of death of Covid in the world.”

Campaign to stimulate tourism

Tourism Australia is spending $40 million on a campaign to entice international tourists Down Under.

Peter Shelley, managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council, says it will take time to rebuild the sector.

“We were the first industry to fully close and will be the last industry to fully reopen and most of our businesses don’t expect to see any significant income from the inbound market until well into next year,” he said.

“While businesses will be relieved, they also know the challenge lays ahead in rebuilding from the ground up.”

Around 9.5 million international visitors came to Australia in 2019 before border closures brought the travel industry to a standstill.

Australia draws the majority of its visitors from China, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the UK and US.